


The Plight of a Demon

by Silvertora



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Bullying, Human Bill Cipher, Insomnia, M/M, Nightmares, Older Pines Twins
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-11-27
Updated: 2014-12-31
Packaged: 2018-02-27 06:11:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 35,725
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2682077
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Silvertora/pseuds/Silvertora
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dipper starts having strange dreams after Bill used his body as a living puppet. For the rest of the summer, he finds himself unable to sleep through the night. When he and Mabel finally have to leave Gravity Falls, he assumes things will go back to normal. But things take a turn for the worse. Dipper spends the next five years tormented by these dreams and his whole life feels like it's crumbling away. But Dipper still wants to go back to Gravity Falls, and this time, a familiar figure enters his life again with a deal he can't refuse.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Only the Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> This was written to take place right after the events of The Blind Eye. The first few chapters are mostly setup, so I apologize in advance, but there were a lot of details I didn't want to skip over. Anyways, I hope you enjoy.

Dipper has been closer than ever to finding out the secrets of Gravity Falls since discovering the true identity of Old Man McGucket. However, every time he seems to get close to figuring out who the author is, something bad happens, and his information is lost. Last time, it was Bill who possessed his body and smashed the laptop. Although, Dipper was positive that either way, that information would have been lost. No matter how hard he tried, Dipper just couldn't seem to find the password. He was seconds away from losing everything either way. He just wished that he didn’t fall victim to Bill’s lies. Having him in his own body was terrifying. Dipper did end up having to go to the hospital for a broken hand and multiple shallow stab wounds from all the forks and knives Bill had jammed into his arms.

Since Bill had possessed him, Dipper has been having really odd dreams. Most of them are a blur, but Dipper always wakes up clammy and sweaty. On a few occasions, Mabel has pointed out that he mumbles in his sleep and has woken up screaming once or twice. Dipper has been scared to sleep, and tries to stay up all night, but he can never last more than one full day. The second night he crashes and the dreams plague him again.

Dipper was up late again, studying the journal under the black light. Mabel was across the room, sleeping soundly. Dipper quietly flipped to the page about Bill Cipher, the dream demon. He was one hundred percent sure that he was the cause of Dipper’s weird dreams. He found the page, which to his dismay, had very little additional information written in the invisible ink. Just more warnings about how dangerous Bill is. Dipper felt stupid for entering that deal with him, but Bill knew how to manipulate him. Using his desperation to his advantage, Bill had caught Dipper in a moment of weakness.

Not wanting to think about it anymore, Dipper finally gave in to sleep. He turned off the light and set it on the table beside his bed and curled up under his blanket.

Dipper found himself in the dark, cold forest. Normally, he would know where he was, but he couldn’t even see his hands in front of his face. Arms extended, he bravely walked around, wondering what was going on and where he was. Suddenly, the darkness began to fade, but this wasn’t a good sign. The color was draining away, leading him forward. Dipper ran in the direction of the fading color, knowing what lay waiting for him in the end. Sure enough, a familiar shape was floating in the middle of the forest. It turned around, revealing the uncomfortably large eye of Bill Cipher staring directly at him. Dipper tried to shun away his gaze, but he couldn’t for some reason. Like, he was being held in that position. Bill laughed obnoxiously and snapped his fingers. Dipper suddenly felt hot only to see the skin of his arms boiling and melting away. Dipper screamed and at that, Bill snapped again. A flash of light blinded Dipper and then all was black again.

With a loud gasp, Dipper shot out of bed. He was panting and sweaty. Nervously, he examined his body, relieved to find that his skin was intact still. With a sigh of relief that he survived another night, he whipped his head around to look at the clock. It was already 11:00. Dipper sprang up and got dressed really fast. Luckily, it was the weekend, so the Mystery Shack didn’t open until noon. Dipper made it downstairs to see Stan and Mabel cleaning p breakfast.  
“Nice of you to join us, kid,” Stan said as Dipper came into sight.

“Sorry, I overslept,” Dipper apologized. He went to the fridge to see if he could find something to eat, since the cooked breakfast option had clearly came and went. He pulled out some string cheese and gnawed on it until Stan had left the room. Mabel was washing her plate in the sink, and when she was finished, she set it to the side and immediately went to Dipper.

“What the hey-hey bro-bro? Why are you acting so weird lately?” Mabel asked as she sat across from Dipper at the table, propping her arms on the table and leaning into her fists. Dipper sighed.

“If I tell you, will you promise to take me seriously?” Dipper asked.

“When have I not taken your feelings seriously?” Mabel snorted.

“Like, all the time! You always think I’m crazy or something. I have a real issue, and I need you to respect that.” Dipper snapped.

“Geez, you’re really testy. I promise, I will respect your problem and try to help.” Mabel said, awfully maturely. Dipper was a little surprised.

“Okay, so, back when Bill possessed my body, since then I’ve been having really weird dreams.” Dipper began, though Mabel already knew this because of the sleep talking. Mabel nodded to show she was listening. Dipper continued, “I feel like Bill has something to do with the dreams, and last night, I saw him.”

“Woah, like, he talked to you or something?” Mabel wondered.

“No, he didn’t say anything, but he laughed and my skin started to melt and after that, I woke up.” Dipper finished, suddenly feeling chills.

“Ew, so, you haven’t actually spoken to him,” Mabel pondered.

“I’ve only seen him this one time. And I’m not even sure if he’d talk to me, you know he can’t be trusted and all. Why would he tell me anything anyway?” Dipper mused.

“Well, maybe you’ll find answers soon. I’m sorry bro, but I really don’t have any advice for you this time,” Mabel sighed, “Just don’t go making any more deals with him okay. That only leads to trouble.” Dipper looked distraught, but Mabel was right. There really wasn't anything he could do about it.

“Thanks Mabel, just being able to talk about it helps, I guess…” Dipper trailed off. He was so tired and hasn't had a peaceful night’s sleep in weeks. He was beginning to wonder if the dreams would ever stop.


	2. Fast-Forward

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After Dipper and Mabel leave Gravity Falls, Dipper's life begins to fall apart.

The day that the Pine twins had dreaded has finally come. The last day of summer vacation. The two siblings had packed their bags and said goodbye to the Mystery Shack. Grenda and Candy had come to say goodbye to Mabel. They were sad to see her leave, but Mabel kept promising that she would come back next summer. Dipper didn’t know how true that was. As for him, he said his goodbyes to Wendy and Soos, who was taking their leave pretty hard. Soos was kind of like Dipper’s older brother who was surprisingly more awkward than he was. And since the romantic tension between Dipper and Wendy had dissipated, the two of them became really good friends. They were closer than ever since Dipper no longer felt awkward and sweaty around her.

Lastly, the kids said goodbye to their Grunkle Stan, who was also sad to see them leave. They barely knew him before coming out here, but now, he had become more of a parent than their real parents were. Maybe that wasn’t such a good thing, but nevertheless, they had to say goodbye. Stan gave Mabel one last hug, and Dipper one last noogie.

As the bus came, the twins got on and headed back to California. They would go back to school, and lead their old boring lives again. Maybe they could convince their parents to let them come back again, but Dipper had no idea what they were thinking about their living situation in Gravity Falls. A lot of things had happened that worried them, like when Gideon stole the shack. They were pretty much homeless, and Dipper didn’t dare tell them about the supernatural things that had happened. If they found out, they would never be allowed to go back again.

Dipper hung onto the journal. Even though he couldn’t investigate the book back home, he didn’t want to leave it in Stan’s care while they were gone. Gideon almost destroyed the town for that book, so he assumed the only way to ensure its safety was to take it out of Gravity Falls. As long as his parents never see it, then it will be okay.

The bus ride was long and tedious, but at least Mabel and Dipper had the bus to themselves for a while. Hardly anyone else got on for long until they reached California. Dipper warned Mabel not to tell their parents about any of the adventures they had or else they would ruin their chances of going back to Gravity Falls ever again. Mabel would usually protest, but she knew that he was right. And she didn’t want to lose the opportunity to go back just the same.

The twins got home that night, their parents ecstatic to see them after so long. They talked about their trip over dinner. Dipper talked about the few things he did with Wendy and Soos that weren’t dangerous, and Mabel went on and on about Candy and Grenda and Pacifica Northwest and Waddles, who she had to leave behind. Pigs weren’t allowed on the bus. Mabel was the key to going back, as she had made more memories in Gravity Falls without the supernatural ones. As long as she didn’t slip up. But she was true to her word and no mention of anything dangerous or weird ever passed her lips. 

Their parents were happy to hear good things about the trip, but soon the twins were sent off to bed. They had to start school again the next morning. Even though Dipper so desperately wanted to stay in Oregon, he was glad for one thing. Maybe now that he was back home, he’d be able to get some sleep.

He didn’t know how wrong he was.

The dreams still haunted him, he still woke up in the middle of the night, he still mumbled and screamed in his sleep. But this time, no one was there to hear it. Dipper’s first day of 7th Grade was awful because he was exhausted. He was dozing off in class, and could barely focus on what his teachers were saying. Even though he tried to put his Gravity Falls experience behind him for school, he just couldn’t do it. The usual straight A student was starting to only get B’s and C’s. He talked to his parents about his insomnia, but didn’t mention anything about the dreams. They put him into therapy, but even then, nobody could figure out what was wrong.

This went on for several years.

As Dipper grew up, he became worse. His parents had him visiting doctor after doctor, all trying to shove pills down his throat. His parents fought it, but eventually they gave in and bought the medications. Dipper tried them out once. They were awful, but he wanted them to think he was better so instead of taking them, he would throw them away once every day. On the pills, he felt like he was on acid. His dreams became vivid and bright, but still just as unpleasant. He woke up with a migraine and had to take a painkiller to even attempt to go back to sleep.

Then there came a time where Dipper would imagine these horrible images during the day. He had a few instances in the middle of a class where he made a fool of himself by gasping or in one case, shouting. By now, everyone thought he was crazy.

By the time Dipper got to High School, he was treated poorly by other students. He experienced bullying quite often. Even though Mabel was always there to stand up for her brother, that never stopped any of them. It actually made it worse. The bullying was fairly mild at first. The other boys teased him about his height, his clothes, and his birthmark. But early on in their sophomore year, one of the boys that picked on Dipper the most, found his backpack full of pill bottles. Since then, the rumors spread like wildfire. 

First, it was that Dipper was a pill popper. Then he turned into a narcotics dealer. He would get berated and beaten up by some kids, while there were others who approached him asking for his prices. That accusation actually ended up getting teachers involved. Luckily, it didn’t go farther than that, but he was still humiliated for having to explain his situation and the pills and what they’re for to what seemed like every member of the school staff. It got to a point where Dipper no longer wanted to leave his house.

Luckily, whenever there were terrible things, usually something good did come around eventually. Every summer since they were twelve, Dipper and Mabel got to go back to Gravity Falls. But even back in Oregon, things were becoming less exciting than their first summer. Dipper still only ever had the one journal, so there wasn’t hardly anything new to learn. Then to make things worse, everyone Dipper was close to began to leave.

It started with Soos. After their second summer in Gravity Falls, Soos moved to Portland to live with Melanie. Two summers after that, Wendy announced that she would be getting married. Her fiancée was an entrepreneur who traveled all over the country, meaning that Wendy would be going with. The rest of that particular summer, Dipper actually made friends with Robbie, who goes by Robert now. He changed a lot, and matured quite a bit over the years. He still played in a band, which ended up taking him away from Gravity Falls too. Dipper had never felt so alone.

Now, it was the summer after Mabel and Dipper’s junior year of high school. Even though Dipper didn’t have much to go back to, he still insisted on going to stay with Grunkle Stan again. Mostly because Mabel had remained his best friend, even though everyone else had turned on him. She was going back to see her own friends and to see waddles, Dipper wanted to accompany her. And, going away sounded much better than dealing with his problems at home. Dipper’s relationship with their parents had been getting bad too. They were both major causes of stress for each other and now every conversation they have ends in conflict.

To think this all started because of his dreams. Dipper would give anything to turn back time to before he told his parents. But, of course, that could never happen.


	3. He Returns

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dipper goes back to Gravity Falls to get away from his home life. But he doesn't expect that all these years later, some of his questions will finally be answered.

Mabel was still the same as she was when they were twelve. Optimistic, energetic, crafty. She had grown still only a millimeter taller than Dipper, but sometimes, she liked to wear heeled shoes which always made Dipper feel short. She would always try to cheer him up, to make him smile again, which was something she hadn't seen from her brother in a long time.

“Hey Dipper, wanna play ‘bus seat treasure hunt’?” Mabel chimed, Dipper just glanced at her momentarily. Mabel sighed, “You make me sad all the time, you know.”

“I’m sorry Mabel, but you know what I’ve been through. It’s kinda hard for me to be happy,” Dipper replied.

“I know, but, it’s like you've stopped trying to find something that makes you happy. You used to try and make friends, but now…” Mabel trailed off.

“I just end up getting hurt. Every new friend has left me. All my old friends won’t speak to me. Mom and Dad avoid me. I’m surprised you still want to be around me.” Dipper said.

“Well of course I do, you’re my little brother. I will never stop wanting to hang out with you,” Mabel assured, but Dipper remained stoic.

The rest of the bus ride was quiet. Mabel was better at controlling her hyperactivity when she was alone with Dipper. She just quietly knitted while Dipper gazed out the window at the passing trees. One thing he loved about Oregon, the forests seemed to go on forever. When they arrived in Gravity Falls, Grunkle Stan was there to pick them up. Stan was the same as ever. Still running the mystery shack and conning people out of their money. He was always happy to see his niece and nephew for the summer, as he never had kids of his own. Stan was still unmarried. He had a thing for Lazy Susan a long time ago, but that never panned out. Instead, he just lives the way he wants to. Something Dipper always respected about him although he would never admit it.

“Hey kids! Welcome back,” Stan shouted as Mabel ran into his arms for a hug. Dipper sulked off the bus and gave Stan a half smile. Stan had been told about Dipper’s situation back home by both Dipper and his parents. He knew that he needed his space.

“I’m starving, can we get breakfast dinner at the diner tonight?” Mabel asked.

“Only here for five seconds and you’re already asking for food, typical,” Stan joked, “How about it Dip, you want something to eat?”

Dipper thought for a moment. Normally, he would have said no and requested that he just go to the shack, but he thought about what Mabel said on the bus. That he doesn’t try anymore to be happy. It’s true, Dipper avoided social settings because they made him uncomfortable. But they were the only way he would ever find a way to communicate with people again.  
“Yeah, I could eat,” Dipper replied. Mabel smiled as they piled into Stan’s car and drove off.

That night, Dipper unpacked all of his things. A couple of years ago, Dipper had moved out of the attic and into the old room that turned into Soos’ break room before he moved away. He would have been okay with sharing a room still, but because of his nightly outbursts, Mabel couldn’t sleep either. So Dipper decided that moving into that room would be best for her.

It was late and he had already said good night to Stan and Mabel, but Dipper didn’t want to go to sleep. He sat in his bed, staring at the wall trying not to doze off, although he was fighting a losing battle. Just as Dipper was about to pass out from exhaustion, something startled him awake.

“It’s been a while, pine tree…” Said a familiar and disturbing voice.

Dipper shuttered. Not know, he thought. Why would he come back now? At the same time, Dipper was waiting for this moment. His chance to confront the demon after all these years of pain he caused. Dipper scowled, “Show yourself Bill!”

Bill laughed, “Wow pine tree, don’t you sound mad. Is this a bad time?” the demon joked. As usual per Bill’s visits, the color of the room faded into grey and Dipper got up out of bed, bracing himself for the demon’s entrance. But what he saw shocked him. Bill came out of the shadows, clicking his fancy shoes on the ground. The old, triangle shaped Bill had transformed into a human shape. He was about six feet tall, skinny, with fluffy blonde hair. He was dressed in a yellow tuxedo jacket, white undershirt and black pants. He wore his tall and thin top hat and bow tie from his old form as well. Lastly, Dipper noted his eye. Still only one, but the other space where an eye should be was covered by an eye patch in the shape of a triangle.

“You look a little confused short stack,” Bill smiled wildly. Dipper, eyes widened, could not believe what he was seeing. He rubbed his tired, baggy eyes, thinking he was imagining this, but he wasn’t. Bill had really changed.

“Let me say, you humans are really strange shaped. Just look at all these fingers!” Bill exclaimed, holding up his hands and waving his fingers around, “But yes, I have transformed. Do you like?” He gave a quick spin, “This is only one step closer to my true form, meaning my plans for Gravity Falls are nearly complete.”

“What plans? Why are you doing this? What have you done to me?” Dipper burst out. Bill tilted his head, like a confused puppy.

“What do you mean, pine tree? I haven’t seen you in five years. I haven’t done anything to you,” Bill said, surprised.

“Yes, you did! It started after you inhabited my body. I’ve been plagued by nightmares ever since then. You can’t tell me you had nothing to do with it!” Dipper argued.

Bill smiled, about to brush him off, but a thought struck his mind. His face, suddenly blank. His eye widely staring at Dipper, “Oh pine tree…”

What? What’s going on? You mean you didn’t do this? Why are you being sympathetic? How? Dipper’s mind was flooding with questions, but he remained silent.

“I suppose that was my fault after all…” Bill sighed. Dipper furrowed his brows.  
“Tell me, what is wrong with me! Why do I keep having these nightmares?” Dipper demanded.

“It’s a little complicated pine tree, you might want to sit down,” with that, Bill picked up Dipper with his magic and forced him to sit on his bed, “When a dream demon enters a body, they have to use their magic in order to control it. Sometimes, when they leave, they can leave behind something called dream residue.”

“Dream residue…?” Dipper questioned.

“Yeah, it’s a powerful piece of my magic in your head that’s causing you to have all these nightmares. I’m not controlling it. It acts on its own, but it does take after its original source a little. Sorry kid.”

“Sorry!” Dipper burst out, “A piece of your magic has been throttling my head with nightmares for five years and all you can say is sorry?”

“Wait pine tree, I might be able to do something about it after all,” Bill smiled suspiciously. That can’t be good, Dipper thought. “There is a way for me to suppress my magic in your head and counter it, but it can never be permanent,” Bill explained.

“What do you mean?” Dipper asked skeptically.

“It means that I’ll have to be here to do it every time you fall asleep,” Bill said.

“So, in order to sleep through the night, I have to deal with you for the rest of my life.” Dipper summarized with a sigh of sadness.

“Don’t feel so bad, at least you’ll never be alone again,” Bill smirked. 

“No,” Dipper said to himself, “No, no, no, no, no,” he felt stuck. Bill was his only way out, but he would have to live with him for the rest of his life. Was it worth it? In the past, Dipper would have said no, but thinking back on his life, Dipper knew that he had to. He just needed to outsmart Bill.

“What’s your offer?” Dipper asked sternly.

Bill raised his eyebrow, “I’ll keep you from having nightmares every night, the only thing I require of you is that you summon me back into existence.”

“If I do, there can’t be any funny business,” Dipper demanded.

Bill scoffed, “You’re no fun pine tree.”

“You can’t be trusted,” Dipper began, “but I need your help. So that’s my offer. You use your magic on me and only me, nobody else can be effected, no messing around, no working on your big plans.”  
“Wow kid, I don’t know if I can make that deal, it doesn't sound like fun…” Bill threatened, “I need something out of this.” Bill pondered for a moment. Dipper knew that he had him in a corner, but he couldn’t push too hard or else Bill would never agree to help him.  
“How about, I will help you if you summon me, and you will be the only person effected by my magic. I’ll even behave. But you have to promise me that you will do one favor for me. It can be anything, and you have to do it or the deals off.”

“Only affect me, you promise?” Dipper asked skeptically.

“Would I lie to you?” Bill chided.

“Yes!”

“Don’t worry kid, I’ve never strayed from a deal. I say you've figured out this system pretty well. I accept these terms if you do,” Bill stretched out his hand toward Dipper, blue flames burst out around his slender hand. Dipper nodded and did the same. Taking his hand, the flames engulfed his arm, and they shook.

The deal was made.


	4. Living With the Consequences

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dipper made a deal, but he is coming to regret it when Bill tells him that the only way to keep his end of the bargain is to be with Dipper every night. He and Mabel have their work cut out for them helping Bill to fit in.

Bill smiled as they shook, “Alright kid, summon me now, and I promise, tonight will be the best night’s sleep you've had in years.” He said, getting excited.

“Don’t I need to make some kind of summoning circle?” Dipper thought. Bill snorted.

“That’s really just for show. So I look cool when some unsuspecting moron brings me into reality.” He paused, “No offense.” Dipper scowled. He reached for his journal, which he kept in his bedside drawer. Flipping to the page on Bill, he recited the words. At the end of the spell, Dippers eyes glowed blue and he started speaking in tongues.

Bill could feel himself taking physical form, something he hadn’t done in a long time. Even as a physical being, Bill still had all his powers and he still floated above the ground rather than standing on it. Dipper woke up from his trance and looked at the dream demon.

“So how does this dream counter work?” Dipper asked nervously. Bill looked down at him with a big grin plastered on his face.  
“Just lay down pine tree,” He urged, “I’ll take care of everything.” Dipper cautiously laid back in bed, while Bill gently pulled the covers over him. Dipper was feeling okay until he felt the weight of the other man as he joined Dipper on his bed. Bill placed on hand on Dipper’s head, running his fingers through his messy hair.

“Is this necessary?” Dipper asked.

“Yes,” Bill said softly, “My counter won’t work unless I’m in physical contact with you.” He pulled his legs up closer to him so he was more comfortable and closed his eye.

“Now just go to sleep, pine tree,” Bill shushed, “Let me take care of the rest.”

Dipper felt uneasy, but he was tired enough to manage sleep. He still dreamed, but rather than a disturbing or terrifying nightmare, Dipper dreamt he was on a mountain overlooking the vast forest. A cave nearby that provided shelter, and the sound of animals that penetrated the silence. He felt at peace. Maybe even happy. Dipper hadn't had a dream like that in too long.

The next morning, Dipper awoke slowly to find that the sun had come up. It peaked through the tiny window in his low level bedroom, landing on Dipper’s face. He carefully blinked his eyes open and looked around. When he realized that it was morning, he shot up, startling Bill who was still in the same position next to Dipper.

“It worked, I didn’t wake up in the middle of the night or anything,” Dipper exclaimed. Bill woke immediately, and sat up alongside Dipper. 

“I’m glad you’re happy pine tree,” Bill said.

“So, since you have to do this every night,” Dipper began, “I guess that means you’ll be staying with us.” As much as Dipper was glad he made this deal, he wished he would have thought that over a little better. Having Bill staying at the shack with Mabel and Stan would be a little weird. Then, as he thought about them, Dipper realized that he over looked something.

“What are Stan and Mabel going to think…?” Dipper pondered, “What if Stan doesn't want you living here?”

“You worry too much,” Bill laughed, “I can take care of that, but now, I want food.” He got out of bed and started toward the door. But before he could turn the handle Dipper stopped him.

“Wait! I can’t just let you walk out there unannounced. Let me go first and let them know what’s going on,” Dipper decided, “And while I’m gone, why don’t you try blending in a little bit better?”

“Better how? I look human enough don’t I?”

“In physical appearance, but maybe you should consider a more casual wardrobe. And, humans can’t float, or glow. So you might want to stop doing that for a while.” Dipper advised.

“Whatever you say short stack,” Bill laughed as he landed his feet on the floor.

Dipper quickly pulled his clothes on. His choice in fashions hadn’t really changed. He put on some cargo shorts, a plain T-shirt and his favorite puffy vest. He even still had the old hat that Stan let him take from the shack their first summer here. When he was ready, Dipper left Bill in the room to go upstairs and join Mabel and Stan for breakfast. The two of them looked at Dipper as he bounded over to them.

“You look in good spirits today,” Mabel noted happily. Dipper smiled and sat down next to her, helping himself to the plate full of scrambled eggs in the middle of the table. Stan had rolled up his newspaper and headed off to watch T.V. leaving Mabel and Dipper alone.

“Okay, I have something to talk to you about,” Dipper began, sticking a forkful of eggs in his mouth.

“Lay it on me bro-seph,” Mabel insisted, leaning forward.

“Well, last night, I was visited by Bill,” Dipper began, Mabel’s eyes widened.

“Oh Dipper, you didn’t…” Mabel said, concerned.

“I did,” Dipper sighed, “But I had to. He is the only one who can help me. Last night, I slept. No nightmares or anything.”

Mabel shifted uncomfortably in her chair, “I dunno Dipper, Bill always has ulterior motives. Are you sure this was a good idea?” Mabel wondered.

“Don’t worry, I made sure to cover our backs. Basically, the only person that will be affected is me. Be it good or bad,” Dipper explained, but seeing his sister’s face made him wonder, “I mean, last night was the best night’s sleep I’ve gotten in five years. I won’t have to be on medication anymore, I won’t have outbursts in the middle of class. I can start over.” He assured, giving Mabel a faint smile. Her heart sank. As happy as she was to finally see a smile crease her twin’s face, she couldn’t shake the feeling that something bad was going to happen.

“I just, don’t want to think of anything bad happening to you. What if Bill tries to kill you? Did you think of that?” Mabel asked, her big, puppy dog eyes watched Dipper across the table.

“He can’t!” Dipper exclaimed, “Because killing me would affect you.” Mabel still wasn’t sure, but it seemed to her that Dipper knew what he was doing. She felt a little more at ease and smiled.

“So, did he put some sort of spell on you or something?” She asked. Dippers expression changed.

“Well…”

“He’s WHAT?” Mabel yelped as Dipper explained his situation. She jumped up out of her seat and ran over to Dipper, grabbing his collar, “Do you realize what you’ve done? What are you going to tell Stan?” She panicked.

“I haven’t figured that out yet, but I’ll think of something,” Dipper admitted, “and, we probably should go check on him…”

“You left him alone?” Obviously his sister wasn’t liking this so much anymore.

Dipper and Mabel hurried to Dipper’s room where Bill was looking himself over in the mirror. Dipper had asked him to blend in a little better, but he should have been more specific. Bill had dug into Dipper’s clothes and was wearing only a T-shirt and boxers. Mabel’s mouth dropped, Dipper forgot to mention that Bill had taken on a new form.

“Oh hey pine tree, I see you brought shooting star along for the ride too,” Bill spun around, “these clothes are comfortable, I can see why you wear them all the time.”

“Why are you only wearing boxers?” Dipper questioned. Bill looked confused at first.

“You mean the short pants?” He asked, “You always wear short pants, but they’re so boring. These ones are more interesting. And so breezy,” He said excitedly.

“No, those go under your pants. They’re underwear.” He explained. Mabel, after getting over her shock walked over and examined Bill.

“I’ll fix him up, just give me a minute,” She said, giving Bill a quick look over then ran over to Dipper’s drawers and closet. She picked out a few different things then thrust them in Bill’s direction, “Try these.”

Bill changed into the clothes Mabel picked. She managed to find some of Dipper’s nicer clothes. The ones that their mom would buy him and he pretended to like them, but he would never wear. She must have snuck them into his suitcase.

Mabel picked out a white button up shirt that ended at the elbows, and a blue-ish purple low cut vest with two silver buttons. Lastly, Bill struggled to get on a pair of dark skinny jeans, since Dipper was quite a bit shorter.

“Maybe, we’ll buy you some new pants…” Mabel decided. Bill shrugged.

“No need,” Bill said as he magically shrunk himself until Dipper’s pants fit right. Now, he was only about an inch taller than the twins.

“Or, you could do that,” Mabel tilted her head. This was going to take some getting used to.

“So, can I go out and get breakfast now or what?” Bill asked eagerly. Dipper gasped.

“I haven’t told Stan yet!” He admitted. Bill gave him a curious look.

“Stan’s still here?” He wondered. Dipper and Mabel exchanged weird looks.

“Of course he’s here, this is Stan’s house,” Dipper stated obviously, “I need to figure out what to tell him before you show your face.”

“I told you pine tree, I’ll take care of it,” Bill restated. And with that, suddenly, there was a knocking at the door. Dipper and Mabel, in a panic, shoved Bill into the closet just in time for their grunkle to open the door.

“Hey kids,” He said excitedly, “Guess who won a contest for an all-expenses paid trip to Hawaii!” Dipper and Mabel looked at each other.

“Really?” They said in unison.

“Yeah, I was the only person to enter. Can you believe it?” Stan exclaimed.

“So, you’ll be leaving?” Dipper wanted to confirm.

“I leave tomorrow morning for two weeks,” Stan said enthusiastically, “So, that means you and your sister will have to look after the shack while I’m gone. Can you handle it?”

Dipper was still in shock. Was this coincidence, or Bill’s doing? Mabel saw the look on Dipper’s face and stepped into the conversation.

“Of course we can, right dipping sauce,” She said, elbowing her twin. Dipper shook himself back into reality.

“Yeah, you can count on us,” He gave a small smile.

“Great,” Stan beamed, “I’m going to go get some things for my trip, don’t get into trouble while I’m gone.” He stated as he left the room, closing the door behind him. Dipper and Mabel both gave a sigh of relief, followed by Bill stumbling out of the closet.

“How about a little warning next time,” He said, brushing off his arms.

“Did… you send Stan on vacation?” Dipper asked, puzzled. Bill smiled.

“I know it kind of breaks our deal, but I didn’t think you’d argue with this one,” Bill said, feeling proud of himself.

“That’s, nice of you…” Dipper said skeptically, “But why?”

“I just wanted to buy you more time to think of a story to tell Stan about me. So I can stay here with you guys,” Bill explained, “So Stan’s gone now right, can I go get food?” Dipper nodded and Bill ran out of the room to the kitchen. Mabel came up to Dipper before they followed him out.

“This wasn’t what I was expecting,” Mabel said, almost relieved.

“I told you this would work out. I’ve got everything covered,” Dipper smiled until he heard a crash come from the kitchen. He and Mabel rushed out to see what that noise was. Bill had dropped his plate of eggs when he decided that Stan’s cooking was gross. Dipper sighed and put his hand to his forehead.

“Bill, if you don’t like the food, you can’t just throw it on the floor,” Dipper explained. He leaned down and scooped up the big pieces of shattered plate to throw them away. As he went to get the broom, Mabel decided she would cook Bill a better breakfast.

The twins figured that Stan would be gone for a while, so they wanted to teach Bill a little bit on pretending to be human. After he got his breakfast, Dipper and Mabel sat him down and began working on his fake identity.

“First of all, Stan is well aware of many of the supernatural occurrences that go on here. He probably knows the demon Bill,” Dipper assumed, “So we need you to look as much as a normal human being as possible.” Bill watched Dipper pace back and forth. “I’m thinking, that you need to lose the eye patch.”

“Whatever you say pine tree,” Bill laughed as he reached up to take off his triangular shaped eye patch. Dipper and Mabel flinched when they saw that under Bill’s eye patch was nothing. Where a second eye should be, was just skin. It was gross.

“Okay, maybe we can find you a different eye patch then,” Dipper changed his mind. Bill looked at him curiously, in which Dipper couldn’t look at him like that and he turned away.

“I see what you mean, hold on,” Bill said. He concentrated his powers to the empty half of his face and started forming the flesh.

“Ew!” Mabel called out as she watched Bill fashion himself another eyeball. He blinked a few times to get both eyes in sync, then looking up at Dipper for his approval.

“Or, that works too…” Dipper was a bit disgusted.


	5. Sweet Dreams

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stan leaves for Hawaii, leaving Dipper, Mabel, and Bill alone in the Mystery Shack. Bill seems to be behaving, but at night, he is undeniably up to no good.

Before Stan returned for the night, Dipper and Mabel did their best trying to help Bill look and act like a normal person. He still had a way to go, but at least he looked the part. Since he had shrunk down, he looked to be about Dipper and Mabel’s age. He struggled to stay grounded, but Dipper figured he would get used to walking. His voice stopped doing that echoing thing when he talked too.

Dipper had to keep Bill in his room as soon as Stan returned, but he promised to bring him dinner. Stan got takeout, so he assured Bill that it would taste good.

“Dipper, I need you to drive me to the airport in the morning,” Stan said. Dipper nodded.

“Sure thing.”

“Mabel wants to come too!” Mabel shouted obnoxiously. But Dipper shot her an angry glance. She looked confused at first, but when she realized what Dipper was thinking, she sunk back in her chair, “Oh wait, I just remembered that I have to be here, to do a thing,” she said awkwardly. Dipper rolled his eyes. Luckily, Stan hardly blinked an eye at Mabel’s weird comment.

Dipper ate about half his dinner, then excused himself from the table claiming he was exhausted. Stan didn’t notice that he tucked the other half of his dinner under his vest. He went into his room and locked the door behind him, finding Bill hanging upside down over the edge of his bed.

“Finally!” Bill complained, sliding off the bed head first.

“Sorry,” Dipper apologized, “But I brought you dinner,” he pulled the container out from his vest. Bill rolled over to stand up and took the container from Dipper. He opened it up and the smell of Chinese food drifted up into his nostrils.

“Smells good,” Bill licked his lips. Dipper went to hand him a fork, but Bill had already taken to eating out of the box. Dipper chuckled lightly and set the fork on the bedside table. While Bill ate, Dipper went to get more comfortable.

He slipped off his vest and shorts, kicking them into the corner of the room. Yawning, he took off his cap, hanging it from a peg on the wall. He turned around towards the bed to find Bill staring at him. He gasped, surprised, and his face blushed red.

“What?” Dipper asked.

“Ready for bed pine tree,” Bill said, a mischievous look in his eyes.

Dipper nodded nervously. Bill scooted over towards the wall and Dipper got into the bed, pulling the sheets up and curling up under them. Bill went to pull up the sheets so he could crawl in, but Dipper quickly whipped his head around, stopping him, “what are you doing?” his blush deepened.

“I get cold at night,” Bill said, pulling the sheets up despite Dipper’s discomfort. He awkwardly crawled into Dipper’s bed and pulled the sheets over them both. With a wave of his hand, the lights turned off. He snuggled up close to Dipper, gently laying his hand on Dipper’s head, “Sweet dreams pine tree,” he chuckled.

Dipper was still not completely comfortable with Bill handling him, but he tried to put it out of his mind and drift off into sleep. Bill had to enter the dreamscape and made his way into Dipper’s dreams. Using his magic, he dispelled the dark thoughts, replacing them with peaceful ones.

But that wasn’t all Bill was planning. He and Dipper’s deal had one major loop hole. Bill was now in Dipper’s mindscape, free to do as he pleased. And, since they were Dipper’s memories, that doesn’t break the most important part of their deal. Only Dipper can be affected.

Bill floated around, looking at Dipper’s mind. Much like Grunkle Stan’s mind, everything was black and white. Dipper had a section that was dedicated to his time in Gravity Falls in the mystery shack. Bill grinned and went inside the old shack. Peering into a random door, he saw Dipper’s memory of the time he, Mabel and Stan were fighting back zombies with a karaoke song. The mostly tone deaf family perched up on that flat spot on the roof and zombies coming from all directions. Their heads burst at the sound of the song. Bill froze the memory where it was, snapping his fingers, he turned the zombies into cows.

Giddy from changing up Dipper’s memories, he decided to try a different door. This one was when Dipper found the height altering crystal which created all sorts of havoc. Bill stepped in, taking the crystal from Dippers hand and replacing it with a snake. He started this memory again to watch how it played out, laughing as Dipper screamed.

“Those kids are so gullible,” Bill laughed to himself, “But pine tree forgot what I’m capable of.”

Bill exited the mystery shack and went deeper into Dipper’s mindscape. Far past the mystery shack, Bill found Dipper’s schools. Obviously, Dipper hated school because the buildings in his mind were damaged and falling apart. Bill entered the building of the twin’s high school back in California. There were plenty of memories in here for Bill to mess with. He felt like a kid in a candy store.

The one that Bill enters first was the one that lead to Dipper’s memory of P.E. one year. Bill watched Dipper struggle to keep up with the other boys physically. They were playing basketball, and Dipper somehow managed to get the ball in his hands. The other boys on his team yelled at him, urging him to shoot the ball. Dipper halfheartedly looked as he shot the ball up into the air. It didn’t even come close to the net and bounced off the ground with a huge thud. The game kind of stopped after that, and the competitive guys on his team immediately surrounded Dipper calling him things like clumsy, horrible, and useless.

Bill normally would have intervened, but for some reason, he didn’t. He felt this weird sensation flaring up in his chest. He followed Dipper into the locker room as he changed back into his street clothes. The other guys were completely comfortable with stripping down naked and showering there. Dipper was the one who would hide out somewhere to change. Dipper heard the showers still going, so he thought he was in the clear. Gripping his backpack, he came around the corner to where the exit was, when he was stopped by a really tall kid. Dipper sunk when he saw this other kid.

“Where do you think you’re going?” The other kid asked. Dipper stepped back, but the other kid pushed him back even farther. Dipper was now pinned against the lockers, the taller kid staring at him angrily, “You haven’t paid the toll yet.”

“I… I don’t have anything,” Dipper squeaked out nervously, avoiding eye contact. The other kid slammed his hand next to Dipper’s head, shaking the lockers. Dipper flinched.

“It’s either a payment, or a beating, your choice,” He threatened.

“Then just make it quick and let me go,” Dipper said looking down at the floor. Clutching his bag tightly. The bully saw this and grabbed the handle on the top of his bag.

“Why don’t you let me take a look in here first?” He said, pulling on the bag. Dipper refused to let go however.

“No, I said just beat me up and get it over with!” He yelled, pulling back on his bag. This made the other kid angry and he swung his free arm around, pounding Dipper really hard in the stomach. Dipper fell to his knees, dropping his bag. The other kid unzipped it and looked inside, what he saw shocked him.

“Oh,” He laughed, “You are one sick freak aren’t you,” Dipper sunk into the bench and buried his head in his knees. The bully dropped the backpack on Dipper’s hunched over body and everything inside flew out. Dipper sat back up and reached for his things.

The bully laughed, adding, “Instead of Dipper, everyone should call you Popper,” as he walked out of the locker room. Dipper had tears rolling down his cheeks as he scooped up the things that he was trying to hide. Little orange bottles. Bill stopped the memory to get a closer look. He stepped in next to Dipper and picked up one of those bottles, reading the side, he felt that sensation in his chest again. Kneeling down, he examined the brown haired boy. Bill extended his hand, wiping away the tears.

Bill went back to hide and started the memory again. Dipper looked shocked as he felt his face, but there was also a sense of comfort coming from him. Bill couldn’t take much more and left. He tried to shake his head of that event and walked deeper into Dipper’s memory.

He found another one from high school and entered. Bill found himself in the school cafeteria, looking around, all the tables were filled with kids talking and enjoying each other’s company. All accept one. One table in the back of the room had only one person sitting there. Bill had an idea of who it was. He walked closer to it to find poor Dipper, sitting with his lunch by himself. Bill’s chest feeling started to ache, but he tried to put it out of his mind.

Dipper nibbled at his sandwich by himself, looking around at all the people. A few of them made eye contact with him, then immediately mentioned something to their friends. Dipper looked away and blushed. Bill wanted to go over there and make him feel better, but that was the restriction of the dreamscape. Bill was about to leave, when he saw Mabel bounding over to her brother.

“Hey bro-bro!” She beamed, trying to get a reaction.

“What are you doing here?” He asked, not even bothering to look up at her.

“I’m eating lunch with you today, I’m allowed to, aren’t I?” She asked rhetorically as she sat down. Mabel’s friends came up behind her and were about to sit down until they saw Dipper.

“Oh, Mabel, “They started, “We’re going to eat upstairs, if you want to join us.” They walked away, whispering to each other.

“Mabel, just go with them. I know you want to,” Dipper sighed.

“Well, yeah, but I can’t take you being alone anymore! We’re supposed to look after each other right?” Mabel argued.

“Just go Mabel, I don’t want you to end up like me. You have friends, don’t lose them. We can hang out at home, okay,” Dipper insisted. Mabel sighed.

“I just wish you’d let me help you,” She said before parting ways.

Bill had to leave this memory too. He suddenly wasn’t in the mood for causing mayhem. With that, he exited Dipper’s dreamscape and returned consciousness to his physical form. It was still early in the morning, and Dipper was sleeping peacefully beside him. Bill felt his chest flare up again, still having no idea what it means. But something came over him.

Not knowing why, Bill felt the need to hold Dipper close to him. Scooting up a little bit, he wrapped his arms around the teenager and laid his head in Dipper’s fluffy hair. The boy made a noise, but remained asleep. Bill sighed, feeling confused but content. Pulling Dipper close, he whispered, “I’m sorry…” and drifted off into sleep.

“So sorry.”


	6. The Mice Will Play

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now that Stan is gone for a while, Dipper is tasked with figuring out a believable story to convince Bill to live with them in the shack. But his focus is turned elsewhere when he realizes what Bill has been up to in the middle of the night.

Dipper awoke the next morning with a yawn. It was earlier than he would have liked, but he had to take Stan to the airport. Dipper didn’t realize that Bill had changed positions until he tried to get up. Bill’s arms were constricting him and he felt Bill’s breath against his neck. Dipper blushed deeply and tried to lift Bill’s arms so he could get out of bed. Bill mumbled and came to, lifting up his arms and bringing them to his chest.

“Good morning pine tree,” Bill said sleepily, “It’s awfully early.”

“I know,” Dipper said, pulling on his shorts and vest, “I have to take Stan to the airport.”

“Okay, I’ll wait here,” Bill said, rolling over and covering himself up completely with the blanket.

Dipper left the room quietly and met Stan in the living room. Stan handed Dipper his keys and they left. It was fairly brisk for a summer morning. Dipper got in the car and headed off. Gravity Falls was quite a ways away from any airport, they had a good half an hour drive ahead of them. At first, they were both pretty quiet. But eventually, Stan spoke up.

“So kid,” He started, “Don’t worry about running the shack while I’m gone. Unless you want to.”

“Why? You hardly ever close the shack,” Dipper said, confused.

“Well, I know that you’ve been having a hard time lately. So if you want to take a couple weeks off also, I’m okay with that. Besides, without the extra help, it’s hard to run tours and operate the register,” Stan explained. Dipper smiled.

“I appreciate it Stan, but I think I want the chance to run it on my own,” Dipper said. Stan chuckled.

“If you want,” He began, “You’ve really grown up you know.”

“I guess so,” Dipper halfheartedly agreed.

“I’m proud of you Dipper, I really am.” Stan said, leaning back in his seat. Dipper smiled.

The rest of their car ride was quite but not awkward quiet. Dipper turned on the radio until they reached the airport. They said goodbye and Dipper headed back around to Gravity Falls. Now that Stan was out of the car, he put in his favorite CD, Babba’s greatest hits.

When Dipper got back to the shack, Mabel was awake and waiting for him on the couch with waddles sitting on her lap. He got up when Dipper walked in the door and snuffled his feet. Dipper smiled and patted the pig on the head.

“Stan’s gone now huh?” Mabel asked, getting up off of the couch. Dipper nodded.

“We’re free for two weeks,” Dipper joked, “Which gives me time to think of a way to have Bill stay here.”

“Where is he?” Mabel asked, Waddles coming back to her side.

“He’s not up yet?” Dipper wondered, “Then he should still be in my room.”

Dipper went into his room to find Bill still hiding under the covers. Dipper walked over to the bed and gently patted the lump.  
“Bill, wake up, Stan’s gone now,” Dipper said softly. Bill’s eyes shot open, scaring Dipper. It would take a while to get used to his quick motions.  
“Great, when can we eat?” Bill said ecstatically hopping out of bed. Dipper laughed.

“Do you think of anything but food?”

“Not when I get to exist in the physical realm,” Bill answered, “I can’t enjoy food very often.”

The two boys went to the kitchen where Mabel was already ahead of the game. She was making pancakes in the shape of triangles, for Bill. He sat down at the table while Dipper got enough plates and utensils for the three of them. Mabel scooped up the pancake and placed it on Bill’s plate, who looked at it for a moment then got really excited.

“I see what you did there shooting star, I like you more already,” Bill exclaimed. Dipper passed him some butter and syrup to use on his pancakes. Bill scooped a big chunk of butter off of the plate and slopped it on his pancake, followed by a ton of syrup. Dipper just laughed.

“You want some pancake with that syrup?” Dipper asked jokingly as he watched Bill shovel a big bite of syrup soaked pancake into his mouth.

“Yes please!” Bill mumbled through the food in his mouth. Mabel chuckled from the stove.

“You’re funny Bill,” She said, “I thought having you stay with us would be bad, but I think I’ll like having you around,” She turned around with another pancake, laying it on Dipper’s plate.

“Thanks, I guess,” Bill said as he watched Dipper put a normal amount of butter and syrup on his pancake.

“Guys, I thought of a great thing to do today!” Mabel exclaimed as she joined the boys at the table, “We should totally go shopping, since we have Stan’s car and all.”

Dipper was about to say she was crazy, but it wasn’t a bad idea actually, “Yeah, okay,” He agreed.

“Really?” Mabel was shocked but excited.

“Yeah, I mean, why not. Plus, I think we should get Bill some of his own clothes,” Dipper said, glancing over at the dream demon who was still wearing the clothes they put him in yesterday.

When they all finished eating, Mabel left to go change clothes and Dipper went to take a shower. Mabel left waddles to watch Bill. Bill loved waddles and contently patted him.

Dipper was glad to get away from everyone for a moment. All morning, he thought about when he woke up this morning. Dipper sighed as the warmth of the water calmed him down. Maybe he was just over thinking things, but he couldn’t pretend that Bill wasn’t holding him. He couldn’t figure out why though. Was he just cold, or did he try to suffocate Dipper in his sleep? Or was he, and Dipper kind of wished this were true, trying to console him?

Bill had apologized for the nightmares he caused, and Dipper was convinced that his apology was genuine. He couldn’t explain why, but he just knew. It occurred to Dipper in that moment that Bill, while Dipper was asleep, had been free in his mind. Dipper sighed irritated. Who knows what Bill could have messed with. 

Dipper shut off the water, shaking his hair of excess water before he stepped out. He dried himself off briefly and put on a clean t-shirt and jeans. He dried his hair as much as he could and put on his hat.

The three of them met in the living room. Mabel was wearing a shopping themed sweater. She took waddles from Bill and went to put him in her room so he wouldn’t get into trouble.

“So, where are we going?” Dipper asked when his twin came back into the room.

“To the mall!” Mabel shouted, Bill grinned and hopped off of the couch. The two of them running excitedly outside, “I call shotgun!”

“Aw, no fair,” Bill whined. Mabel replied with an outstretched tongue.

“Okay guys, calm down. You can switch on the way back,” Dipper ordered as he came out the front door. Mabel claimed her front seat and Bill pouted in the back. When Dipper got in and started the engine, Mabel piped up.

“You know what we should do after the mall, let’s have a karaoke night.” Mabel said excitedly. Bill perked up.

“That sounds like fun,” He said, leaning forward to join the conversation. Mabel giggled.

“Awesome,” Mabel smiled, but then turned to Dipper, “as long as Dipper promises not to raise the dead like he did last time.”

“What?” Dipper scoffed, “I never raised the dead.” Mabel lifted her brow at him.

“Yeah you did, remember? After we stopped Gideon and Stan threw that huge party. You were excited to show the FBI your journal but they wouldn’t listen, so you said a spell from the book that brought zombies to the shack. You, Stan and I had to sing in order to stop them.” Mabel explained, curiously watching as Dipper failed to recall the incident.

“I remember you, me and Stan on the roof singing, but there weren’t any zombies. In fact, I remember…” Dipper stopped. Here it was, “Bill!” he yelled, turning around to face the guilty demon.

“Sorry pine tree, I couldn’t resist,” Bill tried to laugh it off.

“I thought we agreed, no funny business!” Dipper argued.

“You never said that applied to the dreamscape,” Bill pointed out.

“No, I didn’t specify whether that applied to either the dreamscape or reality,” Dipper began, “Which means that until you know for sure, you can’t touch either of them, or you’d risk breaking our deal.”

Bill was about to counter Dipper’s statement, but he was right. Bill sank into the back seat quietly, brooding over his actions. Dipper sighed, and even though he wanted to storm out of the car, he put the car in drive and started toward the main road.

“So, we’re still going to the mall?” Mabel questioned. Dipper just nodded. She looked back at Bill, who was thinking to himself.

“I don’t want to ruin your fun,” Dipper sighed, “You guys can go shopping, I’ll just walk around by myself.” Mabel pouted, before shooting an angry glance at Bill. He saw the disapproving look in her eyes and faced away from her. Mabel could tell that Bill felt bad.

The three of them were silent for a while before Dipper spoke. His voice was dark, his eyes not diverting from the road, “What other memories did you mess with?”

Bill thought about what he saw last night in Dipper’s mindscape. Knowing what he did, he felt awful about messing with his memories at all, “Only one other,” he said briefly. Dipper didn’t say anything.

“I promise, tonight I’ll fix it,” Bill insisted.

Dipper only responded with, “You better.”

Mabel felt awkward sitting in the middle of their quarrel, but she tried to sit it out until they got to the mall. It was a long, silent ten minutes before they arrived, and Dipper only pulled up to the front to drop off Mabel and Bill.

“I’ll just let you guys hang out. Don’t bother looking for me, just text me when you’re ready to leave,” Dipper moped. Mabel was about to protest, but as soon as the two of them were out of the car, Dipper drove away. Mabel turned around to Bill, who was looking at the ground.

“He hates me now, doesn’t he,” Bill said sadly. Mabel put her hand on his shoulder.

“No, he doesn’t hate you,” Mabel started, “But you did betray his trust.” Although, Mabel thought to herself, what did he expect from Bill?

“Can I fix it, somehow?” Bill asked, looking hopeful.

“Well, nobody can be mad at somebody who buys them things! Why don’t you get him a present to say you’re sorry,” Mabel suggested. Bill smiled.

“Will you help shooting star?” Bill asked.

“Of course!” Mabel agreed, “But first, we should get you some new clothes,”

Bill and Mabel ran inside the mall, Mabel eager to show Bill her favorite places to shop. They went into one of her favorite stores that sells a wide variety of styles. She hurriedly dragged Bill to the men’s section and had him look around. He was more intrigued by the fancier styles of clothes. Mabel got a bunch of different outfits and shoved Bill into the dressing room to have him try things on.

He took the clothes from Mabel and after hanging them up, he dragged her in with him. She felt awkward being in the room with Bill, but she sat down in the corner and just looked away when he got undressed. Bill took off the shirt and pants he borrowed from Dipper and tossed them aside temporarily. He slipped on a pair of yellow skinny jeans that Mabel found, and she handed him a shirt to match.

“Mabel, can I talk to you about something?” Bill asked, while he admired himself in the over sized mirror.

“What’s up?” She wondered.

“Well, last night when I was in pine tree’s mindscape, I came across a few memories,” Bill started as he tried on different colored vests, “I saw some things I probably shouldn’t have seen.”

“Like what?” Mabel asked, handing Bill more clothes.

“I saw his memories from high school, and I was going to mess around, but something stopped me,” Bill explained, “I had a weird sensation here, it felt achy and made me sad, so I couldn’t bring myself to do anything,” he described, holding his chest.

“Aw, Bill,” Mabel stood up, “You’re feeling empathy for Dipper.”

“Empa-what?” Bill tilted his head.

“It means that you are feeling sorry for Dipper, so you respond by sharing his pain, in a way,” Mabel explained.

“Can I make it stop?” Bill asked.

“The best way to do that is to help Dipper not feel that way either,” Mabel smiled, and Bill smiled back.

“Cool, I think I’ve made up my mind on clothes, so let’s go get something for pine tree before we track him down,” Bill said as he gathered all the things he wanted to buy, and put the clothes he came here in back on.

He and Mabel tried not to take too long, since Dipper was on his own. But Bill was being picky about the thing he got Dipper to apologize. It took him a while, but eventually, h tracked down the perfect gift and then Mabel urged them to leave. She texted Dipper to figure out where he was.

Dipper had time to cool off since he found out about Bill’s reckless behavior in his mind. He met them out front where he dropped them off at, his head buried in his phone until his twin and Bill came running up to him, arms full of shopping bags.

The three of them quietly walked to the car. Mabel and Bill exchanged a few words, but they were far enough back so that Dipper couldn’t hear them. When they got to the car, Dipper went to the driver’s seat. Bill sat up front as per their agreement earlier. Dipper looked away as Bill sat down next to him.

On the way home, Bill fumbled in one of his bags for a small box. He held it in his lap the entire way home. Dipper could see Mabel in the rear view mirror grinning. He glanced over briefly, wondering what he had gotten the she was acting so weird about.

When they got back to the shack, Mabel immediately jumped out of the car. Saying something about getting the karaoke machine ready. Dipper was about to get out and follow her, when he was stopped by Bill’s hand.

“Wait pine tree, before we go inside, I have something for you,” Bill said, handing Dipper that box he was clutching in the car. Dipper took it curiously. Bill didn’t really buy him something, did he? He thumbed open the box, revealing a necklace case. It was a dream catcher pendant.

“Dream catchers were used to capture the bad dreams and replace them with good ones,” Bill began bashfully, “I spent the drive home imbuing it with my magic, so that if you ever decide to break off our deal, you can still sleep peacefully for a while.” He smiled, looking for approval.

“Thanks,” Dipper said as he took it out and draped it over his neck, “but, I have no intention of breaking our deal for a while.”

“So, you don’t hate me anymore?” Bill asked quietly.

“I never hated you, I was just mad,” Dipper said, stretching out a hand to reassure the demon, “You did betray my trust.” That sounded weird for Dipper to say, but at the same time, it seemed that Bill did have some sort of familiarity with human emotions.

“I’m sorry, you know I’m serious about our deal. I wouldn't do anything to break it. And technically, I can’t be the one to make that call. So, that’s my bad.” Bill explained.

“Don’t worry about it,” Dipper assured, “As long as you put my memories back the way they were, everything will be fine.”

Bill smiled, and at that, the two boys got out of the car.


	7. Another Nights Dreams

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bill becomes intrigued by the feelings he has around Dipper, particularly in Dipper's mind. Eager to find out, he continues to snoop around Dipper's mindscape.

It had been a week since Bill had started living in the mystery shack with Dipper and Mabel. Although he was obnoxious at times, it was nice to have another person around. Mabel still had friends in Gravity Falls, so Dipper was happy to spend time with Bill. Especially when Mabel had Candy and Grenda over.

Bill had kept his promise and fixed Dipper’s memories. And as far as he knew, his other memories had been untouched. But although he was keeping his hands off, unbeknownst to Dipper, Bill was still entering his mindscape. His interest in Dipper’s life started when he saw that one memory of him at school, revealing a whole side of the teen that he was unaware of. But more so, Bill wanted to find out what was causing him to feel. Bill would enter Dipper’s mindscape every night and search for more of these memories, trying to find some answers.

As much as he hated to see what went on, Bill couldn’t stop doing it. He remembered when he spoke to Mabel about the feeling he would get when he saw them, and she said it was empathy. But Bill thought that it must be something more than that. 

“Hey boys!” Mabel called from the living room. Bill and Dipper were mindlessly watching T.V. when Mabel’s voice pierced the shack. The two of them reluctantly got up and went to her. She was standing next to the front door with an overnight bag packed. Her two friends Candy and Grenda were there too, “Guys, I’m leaving to stay the night at Candy’s house. So, don’t do anything stupid while I’m gone.”

They said goodbye, but before the girls left, Mabel had forgotten that her friends had never met Bill before. They darted inside, almost knocking Mabel over to go say hello. Dipper was pushed away by Grenda, who was still as much of a brute as always.

“Hey there handsome,” She said, batting her eyes at Bill. Bill smiled awkwardly, “Are you taken?” Grenda asked bluntly.

Bill let out a loud, uncomfortable laugh. Meanwhile, Candy was on his other side, tugging at his arm.

“We should go out sometime,” Candy suggested, “Can I have your phone number and address?” She asked creepily.

“Okay ladies,” Dipper intervened, pushing the girls aside. “Time to go, nice seeing you again.”

“Yeah, c’mon guys. We’re gonna have the best night ever!” Mabel chimed in. Candy and Grenda decided to stop salivating over Bill and follow her out. Dipper waved good bye as they all left. After the door slammed shut, Bill gave an exasperated sigh.

“Sorry about them. They’re strange and… desperate.” Dipper explained.

“Yeah, too bad they don’t realize that I’m a being of pure energy with no need for human affection,” Bill said, relieved.

“Well,” Dipper started, “We have the shack to ourselves tonight. What do you want to do?”

“Want to order pizza and watch movies?” Bill asked.

“You read my mind,” Dipper smiled.

Dipper ordered a pizza for the two of them, and Bill picked out some movies from Stan’s collection. Ducktective, the movie and Tiger fist, return to the wild. Bill curled up in the corner of the couch, Dipper sat next to him. Things were awfully quiet without Mabel around. Waddles was not himself when Mabel was gone too. He moped around the house after he stared out the window for ten minutes straight, hoping she would come back.

Pizza arrived quickly and the two boys started their movie. Dipper had already watched all of Stan’s movies hundreds of times probably, but he liked watching Bill’s reaction.

~

It was getting late when their movies were over. Bill had passed out around the middle of the second movie. He was using the armrest as a pillow, with his legs sprawled over Dipper’s lap. Dipper nudged the sleeping Bill, who squirmed awake.

“Bill,” Dipper whispered, “I’m going to bed.” He said, pushing Bill’s legs off of him so he could stand. Bill nearly fell off the couch, and after that, he was startled awake. Bill went to Dipper’s room while Dipper put waddles in Mabel’s room. Bill changed into the pajamas Mabel bought him, a large t-shirt and pajama pants with a triangle pattern on them. Dipper came back in a few minutes to find Bill already in his bed. Dipper smiled, and kicked off his shorts.

“Goodnight,” Dipper whispered as he joined Bill. Who rolled around to place his hand on Dipper’s head.

Bill entered Dipper’s mindscape again. Eager to learn more about Dipper and maybe help him learn what he kept feeling in his chest. Dipper’s school memories had turned out to be mostly the same, Bill knew he had to go deeper. Passing the different schools Dipper had attended, he got to a point where he no longer recognized his surroundings. It was dark in this part of Dipper’s mind, so dark that Bill had no idea where he was going. He eventually saw a white spot in the distance. Moving towards it, he realized that the spot was a house. Presumably Dipper’s house back in California. Examining it closer, Bill noticed that it was more broken down and beaten up than the schools were. Meaning Dipper had created no fond memories here in a very long time.

Bill entered the door, and immediately felt a draft. The chills moving down his spine made the dream demon shiver. What he was looking for must be in here. There were many doors and windows leading to memories, Bill didn’t know where to start. He picked one at random, a fairly large door, and through it he found himself in Dipper’s living room. Everything was decorated in reds and greens. Dipper’s twin, Mabel was buried in wrapped up boxes, while two unfamiliar figures sat on the couch laughing. This must have been from the same year that the twins first came to Gravity Falls, as he recalled Mabel’s appearance from the first time they met. However, Dipper was not there.

“Mabel dear, I know you’re excited, but we need to wait for your brother,” The lady on the couch said.

“Why don’t you go get him?” The man on the couch suggested. Bill assumed that they were the twin’s parents. He watched Mabel spring up out of the box pile and run upstairs. Bill followed her, knowing that she would lead him to Dipper. She ran to a door in the middle of the hall and started banging on it loudly.

“Dipper! Get up, we have presents!” She called before opening up the door anyway. Dipper, who had clearly been up all night, was sitting on his bed with a flashlight in his hand when Mabel entered.

“Bro-bro, what are you doing?” Mabel asked curiously.

“I can’t take it anymore, I can’t sleep without horrifying images taking over,” Dipper said desperately, rocking back and forth slightly.

“Look, why do you always have to be weird. It’s Christmas, just try and be happy for once and come downstairs with me.” She said. Dipper furrowed his brows, but got up anyway. He sluggishly made his way down the stairs, and as he came into view, his parents gave him a concerned look.

Bill hid on top of the staircase, watching the twin’s open up Christmas presents, which seemed to alter Dipper’s mood a little. He actually looked kind of happy, despite his exhaustion. After they opened gifts and made a mess, they went to eat breakfast. They talked about whatever came up, and of course, one of those things was Dipper and his lack of sleep.

“Honey, you look exhausted, did you get any sleep last night?” His mother asked. Dipper shook his head.

"I had another nightmare."

“C’mon son, it’s just a dream. Shake it off and you’ll be fine,” His dad piped in. Dipper scowled. He knew it was more than just bad dreams. But he had no idea how to stop it.

Bill left this memory and walked deeper into the house. He found a door that lead to Mabel’s room, and opened it up. Mabel was in her room with her friends from California. They were talking about which boys they liked and other girly stuff. The bedroom door was cracked open, and Bill saw that Dipper was close by, within earshot.

“So Mabel, like, what’s up with your brother?” One of the girls asked.

“He’s just going through some things right now,” Mabel answered vaguely.

“Well, I heard that he’s like, totally on something,” The other girl started, “somebody told me they saw like, drugs in his locker.”

“Yeah, and I heard that he even does it at school,” The other agreed, “Which would explain that incident in class yesterday.”

“What incident?” Mabel asked.

“The other day, Mrs. Oakley caught him sleeping in class, and when she went to wake him up, he just started screaming. It was freaky,” The same girl explained. Bill listened to this conversation, the whole time watching Dipper. He tried to pretend he was engrossed in a book, but when he heard about the rumors, he dropped it and peered over at them. His expression fell as they mentioned the incidents of yesterday. Bill felt his chest ache again. It was stronger in here than it was previously. But he still had no explanation. Bill left Mabel’s room, and wandered around the house.

He came upon one more door, close to the end of the house. It must be Dipper’s parent’s room. When Bill opened the door, it was blank. Even though there was nothing in this memory, Bill heard voices. He assumed that this was only a conversation Dipper overheard between his parents.

“I think Dipper needs to see a doctor,” His mother said.

“What he needs is to toughen up, we can’t just send him to the doctor for every little thing,” His dad replied.

“Well, what if he has a medical condition. What if he needs medication?”

“That’s just what we need. Our twelve year old son on meds. He’s already an outcast at school, and sending him off to his Uncle only made it worse.”

Even though Dipper wasn’t present in this memory, Bill still felt it. He was tired of searching and still ending up with no answers. Disappointed, Bill left Dipper’s mind, returning consciousness to his physical body. He yawned, but now that he was done in Dipper’s mindscape, he needed to think about things. He quietly snuck out of Dipper’s room, careful not to disturb the young man.

Not too long after Bill had left, Dipper suddenly woke up. But it wasn’t from bad dreams like before. He was freezing. He reached out to grab his blanket, which had slipped far off the bed, but when he pulled it back, he realized that the other person who had been sharing his bed wasn’t there. Bill had vanished. Dipper, now more alert, stood up out of bed. He wondered where Bill could have gone, or why he left. Was this considered breaking their deal, or what?

Dipper put his shorts back on and left his room. He called out quietly for Bill, even though nobody else was in the shack. Dipper searched all the rooms between his and the living room, but when he got to the gift shop, he realized that the curtain leading to the roof had been pulled back. Dipper went back for his jacket, then climbed up. Sure enough, the blonde haired demon was sitting there, staring at the moon.

“Um, Bill…” Dipper said quietly. Bill gasped lightly, turning his head to meet Dipper’s big brown eyes.

“Pine tree? What are you doing up, it wasn’t a nightmare, was it?” Bill asked, panicked. Dipper shook his head.

“No, not a nightmare. I just got really cold ‘cause my space heater came up here,” Dipper said, giving a slight smile. Bill sighed with relief, but turned his head back to the moon. “So, what are you doing out here anyway,” Dipper asked.

“I needed to think on some things,” Bill answered. Dipper raised his brow.

“Like what?”

“Look, Dipper, I need to confess to something,” Bill said, turning around to look at Dipper again. Dipper stared at Bill a moment, his face gradually turning darker shades of red.

“What?” Bill wondered.

“You called me Dipper,” He noted, “You’ve never called me Dipper.”

“I’m being serious right now, I have something I need to tell you,” Bill repeated, motioning for Dipper to sit next to him. Dipper obliged, taking a seat with his legs dangling over the edge of the roof.

“I need to tell you… that I’ve still been snooping around your mindscape when you sleep,” Bill admitted, “at first, I was going to change all of your memories, but then I saw some that made me feel... weird.”

“What do you mean by weird?” Dipper asked.

“I hurt right here.” Bill said, grasping his chest, “It felt like something inside fell out of place, I asked Mabel about it and she said I felt empathy, for you.”

“What did you see in my mind then?”

“It was when that bully took your backpack full of those little orange bottles. He hit you, laughed at you, and then he threw your stuff,” Bill paused, even talking about the memories made him hurt, “And then I felt something right here. But, I have no idea what this feeling is.” Bill said, desperately. Dipper sighed and lifted his knees to his chest, feeling awkward and vulnerable. Bill was snooping through his memories this whole time. Did he know the full extent of Dipper’s life back home?

“I can’t tell you what you’re feeling, but what I don’t get is that you’re a demon. How can you feel at all?” Dipper wondered, trying to change the subject.

“I don’t know, but since you came out here, I’ve felt better,” Bill realized as he looked at Dipper. He suddenly had a strange thought, seeing Dipper out here under the moonlight. Another unfamiliar sensation was beginning to spread through him. Then he wondered.

“Hey Dipper,” He asked, looking straight into Dipper’s eyes.

“What?”

“Can I… try something weird?” Bill asked, not breaking eye contact. Dipper gulped, and nervously looked around, avoiding Bill’s intense stare.

“Uh, sure, I guess…” Dipper agreed. Bill paused for a moment, watching Dipper as his eyes darted around. He narrowed his eyes, leaning down slightly. Dipper wondered why Bill kept watching him. Bill reached out one hand to hold Dipper’s neck as he gave him a quick peck on the lips. As Bill pulled away, Dipper looked confused. Seeing the look on his face, Bill seemed discouraged, but Dipper smiled. 

“Is that all you got?” Dipper asked playfully, “I’ll show you what a real kiss is like.” He said as he reached around Bill’s neck and pressed their lips together. Bill’s chest felt uplifted, much different than the times before. He leaned into Dipper as the brunette brought his other hand around Bill’s waist. He felt Bill’s hand fall from his neck to rest on his shoulder. Dipper pulled away slowly, his eyes barely opened. Bill looked at him, his face hot against the cool summer breeze.

Unbeknownst to Dipper, Bill was putting the pieces together in his mind. The feelings that spread over him around Dipper, they were beginning to make sense.

“Dipper, I think I understand now,” Bill beamed. Dipper blushed.

“You do…?”

“But I have to make sure, give me your hand,” Bill demanded. Dipper questioned it silently, but he held out his hand anyways. Bill grasped Dipper’s hand, gently stroking the outline of his bones. Dipper smiled, until Bill re-positioned his hands, and with an intense look in his eyes, he roughly twisted Dipper’s hand in two different directions. Dipper cried out as he felt the bones in his hand snap, and he pulled away.

“Bill what the fuck are you doing?” Dipper yelled, the pain in his hand was overwhelming to the point where tears formed in his eyes. He didn’t notice, but Bill too was experiencing pain.

“That settles it,” Bill cried back, grasping his own hand. He was not injured in any way, but the pain he felt radiating from that spot was all too real. He wiggled his fingers that were still functioning on his hurting hand.

“Settles what?” Dipper winced as he tried to move his broken hand, “that you’re insane?”

“Not exactly, but here, give me your hand again,” Bill wished.

“No way!” Dipper refused.

“Do you want to be in pain all night? I’m just going to fix it,” Bill snapped and sat up to grab Dipper’s broken hand anyways. Dipper cried as Bill gripped him, but the intense pain quickly disappeared. Dipper looked at his hand again and waved it around. It didn’t even look like it had been broken.

“See,” Bill said.

“What was that for?” Dipper yelled angrily.

“I had to see for sure, and I was right,” Bill began, “You and I are connected emotionally.” Dipper scowled at him, confused and angry. Bill pouted and gave Dipper a guilty look.

“And I can feel you hating me right now,” he said, causing Dipper to think.

“So that means,” He said, “anything I’ve felt, has been affecting you too?”

“Exactly.”

“Wow,” Dipper sighed. He was beginning to feel bad, “Is this because of that part of you in my head?”

Bill nodded, looking at Dipper. His eyes still teary from a moment ago. Bill reached his hand out and gently wiped Dipper’s eye.

“Sorry, I shouldn’t have done that,” Bill sighed. Dipper still felt mad at him, but Bill’s hand gently caressing his face was helping him change his mind.

“Maybe next time, you could just tell me. You don’t have to break my bones,” Dipper advised. Bill tried to smile, but he looked away. Dipper watched Bill close his eyes, knowing that he felt guilty for his actions. But, not all of his actions were bad.

Bill had kissed him.

Dipper had kissed him back.

He wasn’t sure was possessed him to do what he did next, but Dipper extended his hand, cupping Bill’s cheek and turning him so they were facing each other again. Bill looked confused, but his confusion quickly went away when Dipper kissed him again. His heart felt like it was going to fly out of his chest, and Bill liked that feeling. He put his arms around Dipper’s waist, causing the brunette to shift. Dipper let his hands run through Bill’s hair, getting lost in the moment as he kissed Bill again and again.

Dipper pulled away for a moment to breathe, his heart was beating rapidly. Bill put his hand to Dipper’s chest, feeling the organ pulsating inside him. Dipper looked at him curiously, but Bill paid him no mind. He moved his hand away and lowered his head, pressing his ear against the spot his hand just was. Dipper blushed. He wasn’t really sure where to put his hands, so he let them rest at his sides. Bill had his arms wrapped around Dipper’s waist, nuzzling his head against his chest.

“What are you doing?” Dipper finally asked, chuckling a little. Bill turned his head so he was facing Dipper, careful not to make any space between them.

“Just listening to your heart,” Bill replied, “I haven’t been able to in a long time.”

“What do you mean?”

“The last time I felt a beating heart was when I possessed you five years ago,” Bill answered casually.

“Really?” Dipper thought that was weird at first, but it made sense, “I guess you wouldn’t have one of your own, would you?” Bill shook his head. Sitting up, he drew Dipper’s head into him. Dipper listened closely, but he didn’t hear or feel anything. He sat up after a few moments.

“Weird,” he whispered.

'"No," Bill smiled, "you’re the weird one.”

The two of them were about to resume, but a strong wind picked up, reminded them that it was late and cold.

“I think I want to go back to sleep,” Dipper said, as he stood up. Bill agreed and followed Dipper to the roof entrance. They shut the hatch behind them and the curtain as they entered the gift shop. Bill ditched the coat he borrowed and Dipper hung his up as well. They both walked back into Dipper’s room. Bill jumped back into the bed, while Dipper took his shorts off again. Dipper turned around to see Bill messing with the blankets that had been messed up. Dipper chuckled, and went to help. When he fixed it, Dipper joined Bill in bed. This time, he felt comfortable facing Bill. Bill happily wrapped his arms around the teen, pulling him in until Dipper’s head was right under his chin.

“Goodnight Dipper,” Bill whispered sweetly.

“Goodnight,” Dipper replied, smiling.


	8. Running Out of Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bill and Dipper discuss what kind of relationship they have. While Mabel and Dipper come up with a story to tell Stan.

In the morning, Dipper slowly woke up as the sun came in through the small window in his room. He was about to get up, but he was still tangled up in Bill’s arms. Dipper sighed contently as he closed his eyes, resting his head against Bill’s chest.

“Morning pine tree,” Bill said, not even moving a muscle. Dipper looked up at him.

“Morning,” He said back, “You hungry?”

“Always,” Bill smiled.

“I’ll make breakfast then,” Dipper laughed, wiggling out of Bill’s grasp. He didn’t bother putting any clothes back on since Mabel wasn’t home yet. He left his room and went to the kitchen. He started breakfast, making eggs, bacon, and hash browns. While he was cooking, Dipper thought about last night and Bill. He felt happy being with Bill, as strange as it seemed. He was actually a pretty good person to be around when he wasn’t always causing trouble. And it had been years since Dipper had a friend.

Bill came in, also in his pajamas. Dipper had just finished, and was dishing up. He set a plate with everything on it on the table where Bill sat, and then got another one for himself. They sat down and ate, almost wordlessly. Bill did compliment Dipper on his cooking, saying that it was at least better than Stan’s.

When they were done eating, Bill got comfortable there at the table. He kicked his legs up, and pulled his arms behind his head.

“So,” Bill broke the silence, “Have you thought of anything to tell Stan yet?”

Dipper shook his head, “I’ve been trying, but I can’t think of anything good enough.”

“That’s okay pine tree,” Bill assured, “I know you’ll think of something.”

“I sure hope so, or else keeping our deal might be a little difficult,” Dipper wished.

“We can’t have that, can we?” Bill said.

The two of them were silent again. Dipper shifted nervously in his chair.

“Um, Bill, I wanted to talk to you about last night,” Dipper began, changing the subject.

“What about it?” Bill raised his brow.

“Well, you figured out that we are emotionally connected. Has that been going on since the beginning?” He asked.

“Now that I’ve thought about it, yes,” Bill confirmed, “That’s why I hadn’t shown my face for the past five years. I realize now that I was feeling tired and sad. I couldn’t make myself do anything.” Dipper frowned at Bill’s words.

“I’m sorry, I…” Dipper tried to apologize, but the blonde demon cut him off.

“It’s not your fault, it’s mine,” Bill leaned forward, extending his arm so he could lay his hand on Dipper’s, “I remember early on, the feelings were unbearably strong. But now, I’ve gotten fairly used to it.” Dipper couldn’t find any words.

“It’s funny,” Bill laughed, “I always thought someone had cursed me or something.”

“Hey Bill,” Dipper finally said, after more silence.

“Yeah.”

“Last night, when we, um,” Dipper struggled, his face becoming hot, “When we kissed…”

“Just an experiment, pine tree,” Bill said, “Although I have to say, the feeling of lust could drive someone crazy,” he laughed. But Dipper felt his heart sink, his eyes fell to the floor.

“Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed it,” Bill assured, feeling Dipper’s sadness at his comment, “we can do it again sometime.” 

Despite Bill’s offer to kiss again, Dipper didn’t feel much better. He tried to fake a smile, but Bill knew what he was really feeling. The demon stretched before getting up from his chair. He went over to Dipper, using a finger to lift his head up by his chin.

“Hey,” Bill said, “Don’t feel bad,” he leaned down, giving Dipper a quick kiss on the lips, “I’m going to take a shower, okay,” Dipper watched Bill walk down the hall to the bathroom, and sighed as soon as Bill was out of his sight. He cleaned up their dishes and sulked to his room to get dressed. After last night, he couldn’t help but develop feelings for Bill. It broke his heart to hear that Bill only thought of it as an experiment. But surely Bill knew that, if he really felt all of Dipper’s feelings. Was he just messing with him? Dipper hoped that was the case. At least that way, he still had a chance.

Then, Dipper thought of what Bill said right after Candy and Grenda had left. He was a being of pure energy and he had no need for human companionship. Dipper wondered if he could even be romantically involved the way humans can.

Dipper tried to put it out of his mind, but he just couldn’t. Instead, he went to watch some T.V. while he waited for Bill to get done in the shower.

~

It was around noon when Mabel finally came back. She looked ragged from her night at Candy’s. Dipper never really knew what went on at her sleepovers, but she always came out looking like a drunk. He figured that it was best that he didn’t know.

“Yikes,” She said, stumbling into the shack, “That was some night.” She dragged her bag in and took it upstairs to her room in the attic. Dipper left Bill in front of the T.V. to follow his twin upstairs. He wanted desperately to talk to someone, anyone but Bill about his situation.

“Hey Mabel,” Dipper said as he followed her into their old room, shutting the door behind him. She turned around, not expecting to see him.

“Dipper? What are you doing up here?” She wondered.

“I need to talk to you, do you have a minute?” Dipper asked.

“Right now…?” She groaned.

“Yes, before Bill comes up here.”

“Did you guys get in a fight or something?” Mabel asked, sounding a little scared.

“No, just, sit down. It’s kind of complicated,” Dipper urged.

Mabel took a seat on her bed and Dipper sat with her. She gave him a concerned look as Dipper took a deep breath.

“Last night, Bill and I figured something out,” He began, “He said that we are emotionally connected.”

“What?” Mabel raised her brow.

“It means that whatever I’m feeling, Bill feels too. That explains why he felt so terrible when he saw my memories.”

“So, he told you about that?” Dipper nodded, but then he paused, giving her a curious look.

“How did you know about that?” He wondered.

“Bill talked to me about it,” She answered honestly. Dipper felt a little upset that she didn’t mention anything to him, but he thought about what Bill said last night. He mentioned Mabel, how she gave him some advice. He shook it off, and went on.

“Well,” He continued, “That’s not all that happened last night.” He started to blush a little, and looked away from her.

“Oh…”

“Last night… Bill and I… we kissed,” Dipper choked out. As soon as his twin processed his sentence, she was giddy.

“Awwwww Dipper!” She squealed, grasping her brother into a super tight hug. Dipper just shushed her, trying not to call attention to them upstairs.

“Quiet!” He snapped, “Yes, I kissed Bill. And I thought last night that everything was fantastic. But this morning, he told me it was only an experiment. What does that mean?” She let him go, and looked into his eyes.

“I don’t know…” Her voice trailed. Dipper sighed.

“Wait,” She piped up again, “Does this mean you like Bill?” Dipper blushed again.

“Well, um… yeah, I guess,” He stuttered.

“If you two are connected like you say, doesn’t that mean he should like you back?” She questioned. Dipper thought for a moment.

“I’m not sure. It doesn’t seem like it…” Dipper turned away and rested his elbows on his legs. Mabel scooted over and put a reassuring arm around her brother.

“It’ll be okay Dipper, we’ll figure this out,” She said calmly.

~

Dipper and Mabel came downstairs. Luckily for Dipper, Bill was too infatuated with the T.V. to have even wondered where he went. Mabel went to the bathroom and came back out with her hairbrush. She joined Dipper on the couch, and as she sat down, Dipper grabbed the remote. Switching the T.V. off, he got an irritated noise from Bill.

“Sorry Bill, but we need to figure some things out,” Dipper began, “I can’t think of anything to tell Stan and we’re running out of time.”

“But pine tree, he won’t be back until the end of the week,” Bill piped in.

“I know, but I can’t just put this off anymore. This is important for our deal,” Dipper argued.

“So, we’re going to have a brainstorming session?” Mabel questioned. Dipper nodded. She just laughed. Typical Dipper.

Dipper had gotten up off the couch, pacing back and forth as he scratched his chin. Mabel was hanging off the edge of the couch, waddles sitting on her lap. Bill was making odd noises out of boredom.

“So, we know that Bill can’t be from around here, ‘cause everybody knows each other…” He thought out loud, “but he’s supposed to be our age, so how can we explain that he has no parents?”

“What if he was homeless?” Mabel said, sitting up. Dipper shot her a look.

“Homeless?” Dipper was about to argue, but Mabel made her case.

“Yeah, there’s a youth center a few towns over. Maybe he came over here from there?” Mabel suggested.

“Yeah, yeah, that could work,” Dipper agreed, “But even if we can convince Stan to let him stay, I know he’ll want Bill to work,” he said, giving a look at Bill. He looked up and made a face.

“I don’t want to work for Stan!” The demon whined.

“I know, but if you’re going to stay here…” Dipper began, “He’ll ask you to.”

“That wasn’t part of our deal!” Bill griped. 

“But making sure that you’re here every night is, now please!” Dipper begged.

“It isn’t that bad Bill, besides, he’ll probably pay you,” Mabel tried to help.

“I don’t need money!” Bill yelled, but he looked at Dipper and sighed, defeated.

“Fine…”

Dipper smiled, but Bill scoffed and turned away. Dipper knew what he was asking of Bill. Stan has been his enemy since he came to Gravity Falls. There’s no way he is going to enjoy this, but he was still willing to do it for the sake of their deal.

After that, Dipper told Mabel and Bill that he told Stan he would run the shack while he was gone. Not the whole time, obviously, but he wanted to do it the rest of the week to help get on Stan’s good side before. Mabel was actually excited, she hadn’t run the shack without Stan since she tried to be boss, and that didn’t turn out very well. But now, she was confident that she could do better. Dipper put her in charge of running the tours.

Since it was Sunday, the shack didn’t open until later anyway. Mabel had time to shower, and Dipper taught Bill how to operate the cash register. He wasn’t very good at it, so Dipper stayed behind the counter most of the time. Bill’s job was to make the worthless souvenirs look interesting and make people buy them.

Flipping the closed sign around, Mabel spoke loudly into the intercom.

“Ladies, Gentlemen, step right up to see the wonders of Gravity Falls. Guided tours only twenty-five bucks!” She seemed to be having fun.

There really weren’t many people who came in, only townsfolk who had been here hundreds of times already. Dipper smiled as familiar faces came in, some of them wanted to talk to him and ask about how he was doing. Dipper felt embarrassed that some of them knew so much about his home life. That’s a small town for you.

Though Dipper was a main focus for many of them, Bill drew a lot of attention to himself as well. Many people flocked to him, asking who he was and where he came from. Bill told them very little, and when there were too many of them around, he would try and hide behind the employee’s only door. Dipper just laughed.

Mabel drummed up a lot of business, mostly because everyone really wanted to see how she would do tours. She always was popular in Gravity Falls. When she got back from her last tour, she gave Dipper a huge smile, and pulled out a big wad of cash.

“Stan’s going to love us!” She beamed, running up to Dipper to hand him the money.

“No kidding, this is more than he makes on a normal day, and we’ve only been open a few hours.” Dipper took the money from her and put it in the register before he locked it up. Bill came out of hiding as he heard Mabel come back in.

“What were you doing in there?” She asked, putting her hands to her hips. Bill laughed awkwardly.

“I think everyone really likes him,” Dipper joked. Bill shot him a glance.

“Well, now that we’re done working,” Mabel began, looking at Bill. He grinned.

“Sleepover!” They both shouted excitedly. Waddles managed to sneak into the shop and pranced around until Mabel scooped him up.

“You two have really hit it off, huh?” Dipper asked, halfheartedly.

“You bet, I’m gonna teach Bill how to party. Mabel style,” She said, trying to sound cool.

“Wait, what about me?” Dipper wondered.

“Don’t worry pine tree, I won’t be gone all night,” Bill reached out and put his arm around Dipper, pulling them close, “I’ll still be here to put your mind at rest."

~

Bill and Mabel had gone up to her room, leaving Dipper alone downstairs. He was kind of thankful for the peace and quiet, but at the same time, he missed the company. By eleven that night, Dipper found himself dozing off. Before he completely fell asleep and subjected himself to those nightmares again, he caught himself. Rubbing his eyes, he got up off the chair and went upstairs to get Bill so he could sleep. The door to the attic room was closed tight, with a sign on it that said ‘No Boys Allowed.” That sign had been up there since Dipper moved into the room downstairs. He reached out a hand and knocked on the door.

“Bill!” He called, “I need to go to bed.” He waited for a moment with no response. He tried again.

“Bill!” He knocked a few more times.

“Hold your horses, I’m coming,” Bill’s voice came through the door. He cracked it open and poked his head out.

“I’m really tired Bill, I need to go to sleep,” he said. His exhaustion was evident by his falling eyelids.

“Okay, just wait in your room, I’ll be there in a minute,” He said quickly, pulling himself back in and shutting the door. Dipper tried to see what was going on in there, but he didn’t see anything. He just sighed, and went downstairs to his room and waited for Bill.

Dipper was down there for what felt like forever, and he was getting sick of waiting. It was eleven thirty and Bill hadn’t come down yet. Dipper wanted to go back up and get his attention again, but sleep began to overtake him. He assured himself that Bill would come in with enough time to counter the nightmares so he could allow himself to fall asleep even without the demon at his side.

Dipper laid back on his bed, face buried in his pillow and drifted off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, this chapter was just a whole bunch of dialogue. But next chapter will be much more interesting. Thanks so much to everyone who likes my story so far. It means a lot to me :D


	9. The Darkness Calls

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bill neglects Dipper one night and he has a nightmare worse than other's he's had before. This leads to a fight between Dipper and the Demon.

Dipper felt cold. Slowly peeling his eyes open, he sat up. His breath showing in visible clouds of vapor with each exhale. He didn’t know where he was, or why it was so cold. He was in a room of some sorts, but there was no light. In the blackness, Dipper was unable to make out any details. The only thing he could see was his own figure. He got to his feet, and holding himself tightly, he wandered in the darkness. The area seemed to have no end, Dipper felt like he could walk around in here forever. Just when he was about to give up, he saw something glimmer in the distance. With no other leads, Dipper sprinted to this object in the dark room. As he got closer, he could make out the object. Sitting in the middle of the darkness was a mirror.

It was a fancy mirror, much like the ones from old Victorian times. Dipper approached it and gazed into the reflective surface. Of course he saw himself, that was no surprise. But suddenly, the image on the mirror began to distort. Dipper watched himself transform on the surface of the mirror into a hideous thing. Clutching at his face, he felt slightly relieved that it wasn’t anything other than an illusion. But the image in front of him was terrifying. He tried to turn his head away, but then he realized that something had taken hold of him. 

Dipper’s breathing increased rapidly as he felt something slowly wrap around his head, holding him still. His heart felt like it was about to beat out of his chest when he felt the same thing grab his left arm. He tried to look down at what it could be, but he couldn’t see anything. Dipper screamed aloud and tried to wrestle his hand free only to have his other arm grabbed. Lastly he felt his ankles tighten in the same unknown force’s grip. It lifted Dipper off of the ground. The teen was panicking and twisting around, trying to break free but this thing wasn’t letting up. He cried out for help as his limbs were spread apart. The pulling became more intense, and Dipper felt like he was being torn to pieces. He screamed, tears now streaming down his face.

He felt his skin and bones stretched out as far as they could possibly go, and he cried more out of the terror of knowing what would come next. But then, something pierced the sound of Dipper’s screaming. Even though the pain in his arms and legs never ceased, Dipper was quiet.

“Dipper!” a familiar voice called, “Dipper wake up!” it called desperately.

Dipper called out to it. “Help me! Please!” he cried out into the darkness.

“Dipper, can you hear me? Please wake up,” The voice called back.

“Yes!” Dipper screamed out. In that instance, he felt pressure on his chest and shoulder. He still struggled in the grasp of his unknown attacker but somehow, this pressure felt comforting. Suddenly, a figure was forming above him. He could make out a person, but it was glowing so bright, he couldn’t tell what was happening. This light figure stroked his cheek, and the voice spoke to him again. This time, it was frantic.

“Dipper, please wake up,” it cried, “I can’t stand to see you like this!”

Dipper held his breath and fought against his attackers. Despite the pain, Dipper felt their grip loosen. The figure above him became clearer as the pain in his legs and arms started to disappear. He recognized the figure hovering above him as the dream demon who has been sleeping in the shack with him.

Dipper’s eyes slowly began to open, seeing Bill there looming over him. His hands grasped his shoulders as he tried to shake him awake. Dipper was still breathing heavily as he awoke. The pain in his arms and legs felt as real as they were in the dream. But Bill, Bill spoke to him, looking for a response.

“Dipper! Dipper answer me!” He shouted.

“B… Bill?” Dipper said through gasps of breath. Bill gave an exasperated but relieved sigh as he threw his arms around Dipper.

“Oh my God, you really scared me,” He spoke, muffled in Dipper’s shoulder. Dipper was scared himself. He reached up to touch his face, he had cried real tears in his sleep. Was he screaming like he was in his dream too?

Bill waited until Dipper had a moment to breath and come back to reality fully before he pushed back, still gripping Dipper’s shoulders and looked him straight in the eye.

“Don’t ever do that to me again!” He said panicked.

“Do…Do what?” Dipper wondered.

“That! You must’ve fell asleep before I could come down here and your nightmares came back. I thought someone was down here stabbing you to death or something,” Bill said. Dipper was starting to feel lightheaded from his heavy breathing.

“I need some water…” He said to himself, nearly shoving Bill off of him so he could get up.

“Dipper,” Bill said, trying to get his attention, but the teen ignored him and ran into the kitchen. Bill followed close behind. He was silent until Dipper downed a tall glass of water.

“Dipper, are you trying to break our deal?” He asked, leaning against the table.

“Me? What about you. You were the one who refused to come downstairs after I told you to,” Dipper defended. Placing his glass in the counter.

“I… I’m sorry about that, it’s just that Mabel was asking questions and…” Bill tried to explain, but Dipper cut him off.

“Don’t give me excuses!” He yelled, “That nightmare I had was probably the worst yet.”

“I know,” Bill sighed, “It’s because I’ve been fighting them off,” he pulled out one of the dining room chairs and straddles it, resting his arms along the top. Dipper glared at him.

“You knew, and you still made me wait over a half an hour,” Dipper shouted.

“Look, I said I was sorry. You know I wouldn't do anything to break our deal,” Bill tried to console him.

“What’s with you and this stupid deal, that’s all you ever talk about,” Dipper complained, turning away from the demon.

“Yeah, because that’s what we have. And if you keep doing stuff like this, you’re going to lose it,” Bill warned.

“Oh, it’s just my fault?” Dipper spun around and looked Bill in the eye, “Was I the one who was messing around with my own memories? Or was I the one who let me go a night without your dream counter?” Dipper was in Bill’s face, who was looking at him like a startled puppy.

“If you ask me, you’re the one who wants out of this deal,” Dipper pointed out, “So why don’t you just say it instead of pointing the finger at me?”

“But… I…” Bill tried to speak, but Dipper kept going.

“I’ve had it with you and your deal. If you want to be free of me so badly, then fine! I’m leaving!” He slammed his hands against the table before promptly turning around and heading for the front door. He grabbed his coat off the rack and quickly put it on.

“Dipper wait!” Bill stood rapidly as the brunette grabbed the door handle.

“What?” Dipper replied darkly.

“Does this mean… you’re calling off the deal?” Bill asked pathetically. Dipper made a noise of frustration in reply and left, slamming the door behind him. Bill stood there, staring at the front door. He was trying to process what had just happened when Dipper’s sister came bounding down the stairs.

“Bill? Where’s Dipper?” She asked.

“He… he left,” Bill said quietly.

“What? Why?” Mabel grabbed at the demon’s arm, squeezing tightly.

“I think, I messed up,” Bill said, looking to the floor.

“What did you do?” Mabel looked at him furiously.

“I… I don’t know,” Bill stuttered.

“Well, what are you still doing here?” Mabel pulled down on his arm, making Bill look at her, “Go out there and find him!” She ordered.

Bill gulped. It was his fault after all that Dipper left. He went to the coat rack and grabbed one at random to throw on. Mabel went to the kitchen and grabbed the flashlight, tossing it to Bill before he left the shack.

“I’m going to stay here in case he comes back,” Mabel said as Bill nodded in agreement, then he headed out the door.

“Dipper!” Bill called out into the forest. He flicked on the flashlight and shone it around. There was no evidence of where Dipper could have gone, until Bill shined the light on the ground. He saw tire tracks leading to the main road. Following the tracks the opposite direction, he was lead to the spot where Stan’s car was usually parked.

It was gone.

Bill sighed. As the wind picked up, the demon felt a chill shoot down his spine. He knew it was pointless chasing after a car, so he went back inside. Mabel was standing there, about to make him turn around and go back.

“It’s no use Mabel, he took the car,” Bill said, feeling discouraged.

“Oh,” Mabel sighed, “Maybe we should call the police.” She thought. Bill nodded in agreement. Mabel went to get the phone and dialed 911. It rang a few times until an operator answered.

“911, what’s your emergency?” The phone operator asked. Mabel explained the situation and the operator directed her to the Gravity Falls police station. The officer who answered was sheriff Blubbs.

“Sheriff Blubbs!” She said, kind of relieved it was someone she knew, “It’s Mabel!”

“Mabel Pines? What’s up?” He said, sounding surprised.

“It’s Dipper! He ran off a little bit ago in Stan’s car. We don’t know where he could have gone, and we can’t really go very far without another car.” She explained.

“This happened only a while ago?” He asked.

“Yeah,” Mabel confirmed.

“Well, you know I can’t file a missing person’s report until they've been gone at least twenty-four hours. But I can radio my patrol cars and have them keep an eye out for him, okay?” He said.

“Anything would help,” Mabel said, starting to feel scared.

“Alright, we’ll do just that. I’ll call you if we find him,” Blubbs promised.

“Thank you.”

Mabel hung up the phone, and clinched her fists. Bill came over to her, putting his hands on her shoulders.

“Don’t worry Mabel, we’ll find him,” He tried to console her, but she didn’t feel convinced. Bill thought for a moment.

“I’m going to go farther into town to look. Stay here in case he comes back,” Bill urged. Mabel nodded, then reached into her pocket, pulling out her cell phone.

“Take this with you,” He took it and tucked it away in a pocket, then with the flashlight in hand, he headed back out in the cold to look for Dipper.

It was very windy that night, Bill on occasion felt like the breath was being knocked out of him. But he continued to walk. He had the flashlight pointed out as he walked along the main road into town. He hoped that Dipper hadn’t gone too far.

He walked for twenty minutes before making it into town. Everything seemed so strange and creepy in the middle of the night. The lights flickered on and off, and there was a severe lack of street lights. Bill rose the flashlight, trying to increase the visibility. He called out for Dipper again and again. Wandering the town, he peered into windows of the shops, and investigated the alley ways. There was not a soul in sight, let alone the young man he was connected with.

Bill stopped under a streetlight, thinking about what he said to make Dipper so mad. He suddenly felt a surge of emotions come over him. He was confused and sad. He reached his fingers up to his eye as he felt something wet fall down his cheek. Seeing the droplets on his fingertips made his chest sink.

“Did I really do this to you Dipper?”

~

It was nearly dawn and Bill was still out looking for his missing friend. His flashlight had run out of batteries a few hours ago, and Bill was wandering around in the dark. As soon as the sun began to come up, he made his way back to the shack. He felt ashamed of himself, and he really didn’t like the idea of facing Mabel without Dipper.

He sulked back to the shack, still trying to keep an eye out for Dipper.

Back at the shack, Mabel had stayed up all night. Waiting. But Dipper never showed his face. She was starting to doze off on the stairs where she was sitting all night. It was the sound of the front door opening that startled her awake.

“Dipper?” She asked before she saw who had actually came in. It was Bill, looking exhausted and freezing.

“Nothing?” She asked, her expression dropped. Bill just shook his head. She sighed.

“Oh Dipper, where are you?”


	10. The Feeling's Mutual

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dipper returns eventually, but he seems a little off. What happened while he was gone?

It had been hours since Bill returned from his search. The sun had risen completely and everyone in town must be awake by now. The patrol cops were still out searching in the daylight. Probably asking around town about the location of the missing teen, but there was still no sign of Dipper. Bill and Mabel sat depressed and worried in the front room of the shack. Waddles couldn’t even cheer Mabel up by nuzzling her face like he always would. Bill was sitting on the floor, etching invisible shapes on the wooden planks with his finger. He tried to at least sense what Dipper was feeling, but there was nothing there. This didn’t help him feel any better.

Mabel has the phone clutched in her hand, hoping for a call from the police station, or from Dipper. Her eyes were starting to sting from being awake for so long, but she couldn’t even think about sleeping. Bill saw that intense desire in her eyes, as she thought about her brother.

“Do you want to go look for him again?” Bill asked as he looked up at her from the ground. Mabel shook her head.

“I don’t know,” She brought her knees up to her chest and hugged them, “I mean, he has to come home sometime, right?” Bill nodded halfheartedly.

“I haven’t felt anything from him in a while,” Bill added, “I just hope that means he’s doing okay.” Mabel nodded in agreement, but she didn’t say anything. She could only look out the window again for the thousandth time, hoping that maybe this time she would see the thing she was waiting for.

“At least he isn’t scared or in pain or anything,” Bill tried to convince her that her brother was okay, almost as much as he was trying to convince himself.

Another hour or so had gone by, and just as the two of them were beginning to fear the worst, they jump out of their seats when they hear the sound of a car pull in next to the shack. Bill and Mabel run to the window to see Stan’s car parked where it belongs. The sound of the back door unlocking cause Mabel and Bill to sprint through the house where they came upon Dipper closing the door behind him.

Mabel couldn’t control herself and bounded over to him, taking him in her arms.

“Dipper! I was so worried!” She cries, squeezing her twin tightly.

“Mabel…?” He looked at her curiously. After she was done embracing him, she backed off. Her expression changed from relief to anger.

“Don’t ever run off like that again!” She commanded, “Bill and I were worried sick. We stayed up all night waiting for you and Bill even went into town and searched for you until dawn.” Dipper’s eyes widened as he looked over at the blonde demon. He bit his lip, feeling guilty for running off like he did.

“Where did you go?” Mabel asked, “Bill looked everywhere in Gravity Falls and couldn’t find you.”

“I went a little outside of town, just to take some time to think,” Dipper explained.

“Um, Mabel,” Bill finally piped in, “Can I talk to Dipper, alone?” He asked. Mabel narrowed her eyebrows at him, but she knew she had to let them work out whatever they needed to.

“Yeah,” She agreed, “I’ll just go call the sheriff again and tell him that you’re back.” She walked away to get the phone, leaving Bill and Dipper by themselves. Bill went to the couch, pulling Dipper over there with him. Dipper sat down, facing away from Bill, clutching his upper arm tightly. Bill sat down next to him, and rested his hand on Dipper’s shoulder.

“Dipper, I wish I could take back what I said,” He started. Dipper took a deep breath and turned around, looking into Bill’s eyes, “I want you to know that our deal means nothing to me if you’re not satisfied.” Dipper looked at him, unsure of what to say.

“Bill, I…” Dipper began, “The thing that bothered me about last night was that you didn’t come through for me when I needed you. And instead of accepting responsibility, you tried to make it sound like it was my fault.” Dipper told him. Bill winced. He knew that was coming to him.

“I know, I’m so sorry. The last thing I want is to be taken away from you,” Bill admitted.

“What do you mean,” Dipper questioned, “Taken away?” Bill hummed nervously. He moved his hands back to himself, laying one on top of the other in his lap.

“If we break the rules of our deal too many times, it will automatically void it. And I’ll have to go back to the dreamscape.” Bill explained.

“What?” Dipper questioned, “I never heard of that rule.”

“It’s an unspoken rule,” Bill said, “so that the humans cannot free themselves so easily, if they made a bad choice.”

“So, why do you keep breaking rules?” Dipper looked at the demon, who couldn’t make eye contact anymore, “Do you want to leave me that badly?”

“To be honest Dipper, I did,” Bill admitted, “You made a good deal, I had no room to do what I wanted unless it affected you. I was starting to get bored. But I realize now that I made a huge mistake.” Bill paused for a moment, “I need you Dipper.” Bill looked up at the brunette teen again. Dipper opened his mouth to respond, but no words came out. Bill brought the young man into his arms, burying his head in Dipper’s fluffy hair. Dipper felt a wave of guilt come over him as he let Bill hold him. Bill, of course, felt it too and gave his friend a concerned look.

“What’s wrong?” He asked quietly.

“I need to tell you something,” Dipper started, pulling away from Bill slightly, “I really like you. More than as a friend. That night that we kissed on the roof was the best night I’ve had in a long time.” He admitted, his face flushing red.

“Oh Dipper…” Bill looked a little discouraged. Dipper felt like kicking himself for even bringing it up, but what Bill said surprised him.

“That night was good for me too, but I liked the feeling. Your feelings,” He began, “If you feel this way about me, it only makes me feel the same about myself.” Dipper thought for a moment. What Bill said made sense.

‘So what does that mean?” Dipper asked, “Are you saying that you’ll never feel this way about me too?”

“The only way I can feel any affection for you, is if you feel it towards yourself.”

Dipper winced and shook his head. Of course. That made sense, but why did it have to be that way. Dipper’s self-esteem had never been the best, but over the past five years, he didn’t know if he was capable of loving himself. Bill closed his eyes and drew Dipper back into his arms.

“That doesn’t mean I won’t be willing to help you,” Bill said softly into Dipper’s ear. Dipper looked up, making a confused noise.

“I mean, if you ever want to do anything… I’m here,” Bill smiled. Dipper managed to force a smile. Bill closed his eyes and leaned down, kissing Dipper softly.

“I’ll make sure one way or another,” Bill whispered in between kisses, “that I get to know what it’s like to be in love with you.”

~

The two boys were interrupted by Mabel who came bounding into the room. Bill and Dipper blushed as they quickly pulled away. Dipper coughed awkwardly, and Bill scratched the back of his head. Mabel just looked at them and grinned.

“Did you talk to the police?” Bill asked, trying to divert attention from himself and Dipper.

“Yeah, they were happy that you came back on your own. But he said that you should be more careful. Shady things happen around here at night,” Mabel warned.

“I know that better than most people around here,” Dipper claimed, “But I promise I won’t run out on you guys again.” Dipper shot a look towards Bill, admiring his profile until he turned his head.

“You better not, I don’t know if I’d be up for another all-nighter anytime soon,” Bill joked as he put an arm around Dipper playfully.

“Does this mean you guys made up?” Mabel asked happily. Dipper nodded. 

“Yeah, we have,” Mabel squealed as she ran over and hugged him.

“We should celebrate!” Mabel suggested, “Let’s go to the diner for lunch.” Dipper and Bill exchanged looks, and they smiled at each other.

“I call shotgun!” Bill shouted and ran out the door. Followed by Mabel, protesting. Dipper laughed at them as he got up and headed for the car.

~

At the diner, Dipper felt uneasy. Even though his escapade happened just a few hours ago and in the middle of the night, it seemed that everybody already knew about it. Almost everyone in the diner made a comment about how they were glad that he was found, or how he should be more careful and think before he goes out after dark. Dipper tried to shrug it off, but he still felt a little violated.

Lazy Susan seated them at a booth, the one they usually sat at when Stan took them out to eat. Mabel insisted that she sit next to Dipper, and Bill sat across from them. They looked over their menus until they decided what they wanted and Lazy Susan took their order. Bill asked if it was possible to get his cooked in the shape of a triangle. Lazy Susan just laughed, and walked away.

Mabel and Bill were starving, but Dipper hardly felt like eating. Something was bothering him, more than the nosy town people. Dipper put on a happy face for the sake of Mabel, but Bill knew that he had something rather unpleasant on his mind, but he couldn’t ask him about it here.

When their food got to them, Dipper barely picked at it. Even the little bit that he did eat made him feel kind of sick. Mabel was usually more keen to her twin’s feelings, but this time she was so hungry that she didn’t even notice Dipper’s strange behavior.

None of them wanted to be there for an extended amount of time. They were pretty exhausted from the long night, and after their lunch, they were most likely going to return to the shack and sleep. Mabel urged Dipper to let her out so she could use the restroom before they left, leaving Bill and Dipper alone at their table. With his sister gone, Bill reached across the table, gently lifting the young man’s head.

“Are you feeling okay?” Bill asked, going through a mental checklist of everything Dipper was feeling throughout their meal. Dipper looked up at him, he thought of shrugging him off too, but Bill has already seen through that.

“I’m just tired,” Dipper lied. Bill raised his brow, but Dipper wouldn’t go on. Something happened to him last night, he just knew it. And the boy’s secrecy about it was going to drive him crazy.

Mabel got back and they paid for their food, leaving a fairly good tip for Lazy Susan like they always did. Bill let Mabel take the front seat on the way home to avoid arguing. Nobody talked much during the car ride. To Mabel, it was because they were so tired from staying up all night. But to Bill and Dipper, it was that something else that Dipper wanted to conceal.

Dipper parked the old car back in its place and they all got out. Stumbling to the front door, Dipper let them inside and locked the door behind. Mabel let out a huge yawn before saying her “Goodnights” to the two of them and trudging upstairs. Bill took Dipper’s hand, lacing their fingers together as he led him to their room.

It was awfully serene at the shack currently. The only sound piercing the silence was the occasional forest animal. Dipper felt a surge of relief come over him as he entered his room, looking at his bed. He couldn’t tell Mabel what he had seen last night, what he felt that still scared him even now. It helped that Bill was there, unwilling to leave his side as the demon even helped him slip out of his clothes. Bill pushed his hands under Dipper’s vest, sliding it down his shoulders until it fell on the floor. Dipper felt his face grow red as Bill kissed his cheek.

The demon slipped away momentarily to put on his pajamas, and Dipper took his shorts off so he was just in his t-shirt and underwear. Dipper sat on the edge of his messy bed, eyeballing the pillow. It looked more comfortable than usual. Bill had changed and went to Dipper’s side, laying his hand on Dipper’s bare thigh. The teen shifted, shying away from Bill’s touch.

“What’s wrong Dipper?” Bill asked, tilting his head to one side.

“I’m really tired, can’t we just sleep?” Dipper whined. Bill sighed.

“Okay,” he gave in and laid back on Dipper’s pillow, pulling the young man with him. Dipper was unsure at first, but he found himself wanting to lay his head on Bill’s chest. He placed his head on Bill’s left side, laying in the crook between Bill’s collar bone and his chest. His free arm wrapped around the demon, and Dipper held him close.

Bill reached his left hand up and gently ruffled the teen’s hair before letting his hand fall to rest on Dipper’s waist. He sighed contently and closed his eyes, happy at least to have his person back where he belongs.


	11. The Real Reason

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mabel wants to have a big party before Stan comes back, while Dipper finally finds the nerve to tell Bill what's bothering him.

It was early the next morning that Dipper found himself waking. He turned his head, careful to not disturb Bill, and looked out the window. The sun hadn’t even come up yet. Wondering what time it really was, Dipper shifted his body around to see the clock. It was six a.m. He groaned. He thought of going back to sleep, but he wasn’t sure if Bill was capable of doing the counter spell without being conscious, so Dipper just waited for the demon to wake up.

Bill felt the teen shifting around next to him and he shot open his good eye. The demon yawned as he reached his arms up in a stretch, signaling to Dipper that he was awake. Dipper looked up at him, even in the darkness he could make out Bill’s blonde hair.

“Good morning,” He said, his voice slightly raspy. Bill brought his arms behind his head.

“Morning pine tree,” Bill spoke softly, “How are you feeling?”

Dipper hummed, like he was mulling over his answer, “I’m… better.”

“Better’s good,” Bill teased as he slid down on the bed until he was face to face with Dipper. He put his free hand out and took Dipper’s, gently placing his fingers between his friends’.

“Did you sleep well?” Bill asked, touching their noses together. Dipper blushed slightly.

“Yeah, thanks to you,” Dipper commented.

“Aw,” Bill made a sound. Dipper tilted his head slightly and planted a kiss on Bill’s lips. Bill gleefully kissed him back, moving his hand from Dipper’s to the boy’s waist. Dipper’s hand, now free, went to hold Bill’s head. His finger’s combing through Bill’s soft hair. The next time Bill was about to pull away, Dipper gripped the demon’s lower lip with his teeth and tugged. Bill brought their lips back together, pushing his tongue into Dipper’s mouth.

Dipper felt himself becoming hard as Bill started kissing him more forcefully. Bill pushed on Dipper’s side, making him roll onto his back so he could lay on top of him. As Bill lifted one leg to set in between Dipper’s, Dipper felt the bulge of the demon resting against him. His face grew hotter under the pressure. Dipper moaned slightly. Bill gave a breathy laugh and broke away from Dipper’s lips, kissing down his cheek and to his neck. He nipped and sucked at his soft flesh, making Dipper’s head roll back. He gripped at Bill’s head, pulling him closer.

Bill and Dipper were so invested in each other that they barely noticed how much time had passed. It was almost seven thirty when a loud knocking on their door made them jump. Mabel slowly peered inside, trying to see if they were up yet. Dipper’s heart was pounding as he saw his sister’s face through the crack in the door.

“What are you doing Mabel?” He griped.

“Sorry, I was wondering if you were awake yet,” she said. Dipper couldn’t tell if she knew what was going on a second ago or not.

“Yeah, we just woke up,” Bill lied, “I’m feeling awfully hungry, how about I make breakfast today,” he suggested.

“That sounds nice,” Mabel smiled. Dipper nodded in agreement.

“Great,” Bill said excitedly as he clambered over Dipper and headed out to the kitchen. Mabel followed behind. Dipper was glad she left before she noticed his “morning wood”. He got up quickly and closed the door before putting his shorts on with a bit of difficulty.

In the dining room, the smell of bacon and eggs filled the room. Mabel was helping Bill out a bit, just so he wouldn’t burn anything. But it seemed that Bill was quickly getting the hang of cooking. Dipper joined his twin at the table and Bill brought over a big plate of food. Dipper and Mabel took some for themselves and took a bite.

“Is it good?” Bill asked, mostly directed at Dipper.

“Yeah,” Dipper said, his mouth still full.

“Good,” He smiled, then sat down to join them. He was about to dig in, but something suddenly brushed up against his leg. Looking down at the floor, he saw the pig staring up at him. Its big black eyes seemed to cry out for a bite.

“Hey there piggy, want some bacon?” Bill picked up a piece of bacon from his plate and wiggled it in the air. Waddles was about to jump up to grab it, but Mabel pulled him away.

“Bill!” Mabel chastised, “You can’t give a pig bacon! That’s cannibalism.” She took a fork full of eggs and plopped it on the floor for Waddles who happily munched on them.

“There,” She said, turning back to the table, “So guys, I had an idea last night,” she said, changing the subject. Dipper and Bill acknowledged her and she continued.

“I was thinking that before Stan comes back, we should throw a big party! Like the ones we used to, you know Dipper?” She said excitedly. Bill shared her enthusiasm, and looked at Dipper for his approval.

Dipper thought about it. He was sure Stan still had all of his party supplies. It wouldn’t be quite the same without Soos or Wendy though.

“Who would DJ?” Dipper wondered, “Without Soos…”

“I’ll be the DJ!” Mabel said, bringing her arms up in excitement, “And we can invite everyone in town.”

“It does sound like fun…” Dipper mused. Mabel squealed loudly.

“Oh my god this is happening. I should make flyers!” She suggested.

“When are you wanting to do this?” Dipper wondered.

“Probably Thursday night, Stan comes back Friday doesn’t he?” Bill nodded.

“Yeah, so Thursday,” She confirmed.

“We better be working extra hard to get some money for this,” Dipper added.

“Does that mean the Shack is opening again?” Mabel’s eyes grew wide.

“Of course, I mean, since you’re such a good tour guide and all,” Dipper complimented his sister and she blushed.

“Aw, I guess I have to get ready then,” She shot out of her chair and ran down the hall. Dipper smiled as she left, then he noticed that Bill was grinning at him.

“That was nice of you,” He commented, leaning into his hands.

“W… what do you mean?” Dipper stuttered.

“I can tell that you don’t really want to do this, but you want to make your sister happy, so you go along with it anyway,” Bill noted. Dipper knew. He had always made sacrifices for his twin. That’s what you do for siblings. In fact, Bill himself had tried to exploit that a long time ago. Back when he had taken Dipper’s body.

“That’s what you do for your siblings, even if you aren’t thrilled with it,” Dipper answered, “But she has always had a way of cheering me up, even with things I don’t like. So that’s why I do it,” Bill turned away from Dipper and stared at the table like he was thinking about something. Dipper tried to laugh it off. He got up from his seat and took his plate with him to drop it in the sink.

“Anyway, we should probably get ready for work,” Dipper said, patting Bill’s shoulder as he went back to his room to get dressed.

Bill would follow him. But he thought about what Dipper said.

“Even if you don’t like it…” he said to himself, “You do it for someone else. To make them happy.”

~

Mabel’s party idea seemed like it was popular among the town. She handed out flyers on Tuesday morning, and after that, everyone who came through the shack brought it up. Dipper tried to sound excited about it, making sure to bring up the point that Mabel was DJ-ing the whole thing. Everyone in town loved her, so there was sure to be a huge crowd.

For the next few days, the three of them were raking in the money for this party. Wednesday night, Mabel sent the boys to do some shopping while she unpacked the decorations. She asked them to get snacks, drinks, and appetizers. Enough for the whole town.

Bill was being extra enthusiastic at the store. He would jump on the front end of the cart while Dipper pushed it, grabbing everything off the shelf and throwing it in the basket. It was funny at first, but after a while, he was grabbing literally anything and throwing it in. Dipper stopped the cart suddenly, startling the demon as he fell forward.

“Hey, what gives?” Bill whined, picking himself up off the floor.

“You can’t just take everything off the shelves like that. We only need party food…” Dipper reached in and grabbed the last thing Bill threw in, “Not canned tuna.” Bill groaned.

“Now take all this stuff and go put it back,” Dipper ordered. Bill pouted at him, but he did as he said. Taking an armful of groceries and backtracked through the aisles. Dipper continued without him, making sure to grab a few things he wanted for sure before Bill got back and started the whole thing over again.

They went to check out and when the cashier gave them their total. Dipper reached into his wallet to pull out the money, but Bill stopped him from handing it over.

“No need pine tree, I’ve got this,” He said.

“No, this is the money we earned for this party. That’s what it was far. Keep your gold,” He insisted. Bill stepped down and Dipper handed the cashier his money. They left, rolling the cart full of junk food out to the car. Bill put the bags in the trunk while Dipper started the car, and when Bill got back in the passenger seat, Dipper drove off.

Mabel had been busy while they were gone. They entered the side entrance to find the entire room nearly gutted out. Mabel has laid out the dance floor pieces and the DJ booth had been set up in the corner. She was trying to box up the breakable furniture and nick-knacks to move elsewhere when they arrived.

“Oh good, you guys can help me move the boxes!” She said, relieved. Dipper and Bill collectively grabbed every grocery bag and brought them all inside. After that, they hauled the boxes inside where they would be safe. Mabel was setting up tables for the snacks and drinks, covering them with cheap table cloths. Stan had a bunch of old streamers in storage too, which she threw all over the place. It was starting to look party ready in there.

“Lookin’ good Mabel,” Bill commented as he came back inside the main room.

“Thanks,” She said, wiping her brow, “I was thinking we could have an 80’s theme,” She said, running over to the DJ table and popping in a CD. 80’s rock ballad music blasted through the stereo speakers. Bill winced and covered his ears as the heavy synthesized sound filled the room.

“Mabel!” Dipper yelled as he burst into the room, startled by the sudden loud music. She turned off the stereo quickly as her brother came in.

“You always pick the 80’s, why not change it up a little?” He suggested.

“Change it to what?” She questioned.

“What about…” Dipper pondered for a moment, “90’s grunge?” he suggested timidly. Mabel considered it.

“I’d have to re-think my outfit, I’ll be right back,” Once she left, Bill turned towards Dipper.

“Thank you,” He felt relieved. Dipper laughed.

“Don’t mention it, I don’t like that music either.” He admitted. Bill stood to his full height and grabbed Dipper’s arm.

“You should help me pick out a party outfit,” He insisted. 

“I’m not really the best person to ask,” Dipper protested, but Bill was dragging him.

“Please, I’d ask Mabel but she’s busy,” Bill whined. Dipper sighed and rolled his eyes.

“Fine,” Bill beamed, continuing to drag Dipper to their room.

~

The party was about to begin. Mabel had found the perfect outfit, as usual. She had an old ripped up plaid sweater and a pair of acid washed jeans with holes in the knees. Donning her sunglasses and Dipper’s baseball cap, she was ready to go. She turned on some low-key music until everyone arrived, then she would start the real deal. Bill was setting up plates and cups after he arranged the table full of snacks. Dipper sat by the door, ready to welcome people inside. Though it was still a while before they started.

Mabel jumped down from her new perch and examined everything. She was looking pretty satisfied at the decorations. Now, she focused her attention to the boys.

“Bill, Dipper, come here,” She ordered. They both came over casually and Mabel immediately looked them over. She complimented Bill for his choices, an old faded band t-shirt with a black sleeveless vest and skinny jeans with yellow converse. Bill had helped Dipper find a plaid button up to go with some baggy jeans and big hiking boots. Mabel sighed.

“You guys look good, but I feel like you’re missing something,” She went over to Dipper and rustled his hair, making it much messier than usual. Then to Bill, she unbuttoned his vest then took a step back. She thought for a moment, then her eyes widened.

“I’ve got it, wait here,” She darted off. Bill and Dipper were scared thinking of what she could possibly be bringing back with her. She wasn’t gone long, and when she returned, the thing she was holding in her hand made Dipper freak out.

“Oh no, there’s no way,” Dipper refused. Bill just looked at her curiously.

“What is it?” Bill tilted his head as Mabel brought up a little bag and unzipped it, pulling out a small but long black bottle.

“Really Mabel, I don’t think we need to wear makeup,” Dipper flung up his hands in protest.

“Aw, come on Dipper, it’s just for the party. Besides, the lights will be off and nobody will see it.” She pleaded.

“Exactly, what’s the point?”

“To make you look the part, now hold still,” She untwisted the cap and pulled out the eyeliner brush.

“Yeah pine tree,” Bill piped in, “I bet you’d look hot with eyeliner,” he teased.

“Fine, but only if you do it too,” Dipper demanded. Bill just chuckled. That wasn’t much of a tradeoff, since Bill probably would have done it anyway. But Dipper held still so his sister could put that eye goop on him. It was cold and wet and gross. He would never understand why girls, and some guys, wore this stuff. He tried not to twitch as Mabel fanned his eyes.

“See, you look fine,” Mabel held out her pocket mirror for him to see. Dipper sighed. He only ever allowed Mabel and her friends to put makeup on him once before, but it was for a good reason.

“You’re so pretty,” Bill commented with a grin. Dipper blushed.

“Shut up!”

“Okay Bill, now it’s your turn,” Mabel came at the blonde demon with the brush. He just took it. When his eyes were dry, Mabel had another idea and pulled out her comb. She brushed Bill’s bangs down and off to one side, covering his eye.

“There, now you two look perfect,” Mabel beamed. Dipper felt dumb, but his sister was happy. She smiled and went to put her makeup bag back in the bathroom. Bill came in front of Dipper, resting his arms on the teen’s shoulders.

“Don’t call me pretty,” Dipper urged before Bill had a chance to say anything.

“Can I call you sexy?” He asked seductively, “Am I using that word right…?” Dipper laughed.

“Yes, that’s right,” His face was still red from earlier, and Bill wasn’t helping. Bill kissed him deeply for a few seconds, pulling away right as Mabel came back into the room.

“Alright,” Mabel began, “Time to let in the guests,” She went to the door and opened it up. There must’ve been everyone in Gravity Falls standing there waiting. Dipper waved and acknowledged everyone as they came in. Mabel flipped the lights off, letting the bright party lights shine brighter. She took her place at the DJ table and started playing the good music. Everyone seemed to be having a blast. Dipper and Bill danced for a while, but eventually, the crowd was becoming too much for Dipper to handle. He snuck outside where he could be alone, and walked around the shack to the front porch. He leaned against the railing, sipping at his drink and thought about things.

“Hey…” Bill’s voice pierced the silence. Dipper looked around to see the demon leaning against the post.

“Hey, shouldn’t you be inside,” Dipper said as Bill walked over to him.

“I saw you sneak out,” Bill admitted, leaning his elbows against the railing as well, “You’ve been out here for a while so I thought I’d come check on you.”

“Thanks, but I’m fine,” Dipper claimed. Bill shook his head.

“I don’t know why you insist on lying to me Dipper, you know that I know what you’re feeling,” He glanced at the boy, who was avoiding eye contact.

“It’s just habit, I guess,” Dipper sighed, “I don’t mean to, it’s just easier that way,”

“You don’t need to lie to me anymore, you know,” Bill scooted closer to Dipper. Dipper gulped, still unable to look at Bill and he started thinking again. He glanced up at the stars, watching them twinkle one after the other. With a heavy heart, he finally looked into Bill’s eyes.

“I want to tell you…” He began as nervous chills traveled through his body, “What happened that night,” Bill perked up.

“You do?” He asked, shocked.

“Yes, but not here, come with me,” Dipper insisted. Bill agreed and stayed outside while Dipper snuck back in for a moment to steal the car keys. Before he snuck out again, he looked over at his twin. She was engrossed in her party, there’s no way she would even know they were gone. Dipper and Bill climbed into the car and Dipper started it, pulling out on the gravel pavement and driving off onto the main road. Nobody heard anything that they knew of.

Dipper was quiet in the car. Probably thinking of how he was going to put to words what he did while he was gone a few nights ago. Bill turned his body towards the passenger side window, watching the trees shoot past. They drove awfully far, way farther than Bill had been out searching. It was no wonder nobody had seen him. Not even the patrol cops would come out this far. The road wound up the side of a huge hill. At the top was a small clearing. Dipper drove to the side of the road and parked the car. The two of the got out and Dipper lead the way past the clearance. There was a small path where the trees ceased growing. It was dark and cold, Bill could have sworn he heard running water beyond the path as well.

When they were out of the trees, Bill saw what Dipper wanted him to see. Bill was right about the water, as there was a small river running quickly down the edge of the big hill. The water was quite a ways down where they were standing. There was another clearing on the opposite bank, and connecting the gap was a nice little bridge. Dipper walked out over the water and leaned against the guard rail, looking out over the water’s edge. From there, all you could see was the sky. It almost felt like you were floating in the air.

“What is this place?” Bill wondered as he joined Dipper, looking out into the starry sky.

“I found it a couple of years ago,” Dipper explained, “Nobody comes out here anymore, so it makes a good place to clear your head.” Dipper took a huge breath, taking in the fresh air.

“So, that’s what you did, came out here and thought?” Bill confirmed.

“Yeah,” Dipper swallowed, “I thought about you.”

“Me…?”

“Well yeah, you were what made me want to come up here,” Dipper reminded him, “I was certain that when I came back… you would be gone.”

“Why?” Bill wondered.

“Because of what I said!” Dipper said loudly, “I thought that you would consider our deal over and leave. Then I thought about how the nightmares would come back. And then I would have to go back to school and deal with all those people, and even after I graduate and leave all the bullies behind, I would just make a fool of myself anywhere else I went.” Dipper clinched, gripping tightly at the guard rails. He sniffled, and at that, Bill felt that he had tears forming in his eyes. He wanted to go console Dipper, but then the teen spoke again.

“I thought then, that the rest of my life,” Dipper’s voice was choked back, his sentences choppy, “would be nothing but nightmares. Nobody would want to be around me anymore. I would be alone. So then I thought, I mean, I wanted to…” Dipper looked down over the bridge at the raging river below them. It was rocky, mostly likely freezing, and only a few yards from the bridge was a waterfall. Bill watched Dipper, hardly able to see his from his watery eyes.

“I wanted to die!” Dipper cried out, his knees weakened as he fell against the rail. He couldn’t hold it back anymore and he crouched there, sobbing. Bill’s chest ached as he came over to him, pulling Dipper up by his arms and drawing him in. Dipper’s breathing slowed slightly as he was taken in by the demon. He clutched Bill’s shirt as he pressed his forehead against him. Bill’s hand cradled Dipper’s head.

“Dipper,” Bill whispered, his cheek pressed against Dipper’s temple. Dipper felt Bill’s tears fall against his face and he lifted his head. Bill was looking at him, his eyes glossy under the moonlight. Dipper gulped as he reached his arms around, hugging the demon’s waist. His head rested in Bill’s chest.

“It’s gonna be okay,” Bill stroked Dipper’s hair while he continued to hold him tightly. He felt Dipper’s mood trying to elevate, “I promise.”

Dipper let out shallow breaths in an attempt to calm himself down. His tears ceased falling as he snuggled up to Bill. He felt warm against the demon while the nearby trees braced them from the wind. When the teen was finally calmed down enough to speak again, he lifted his head. Bill looked back, gazing into Dipper’s eyes.

“You… won’t tell my sister about this, right?” Dipper asked weakly. Bill shook his head.

“Of course not,” He claimed.

“Thanks…”

“Hey Dipper,” Bill said, after things grew silent between them for a while

“What?”

“Promise me,” The demon said, a serious glint in his eye, “That you’ll never self-harm.” Dipper looked away as he felt a lump form in his throat. After a few deep breaths, he nodded his head repeatedly.

“I promise, as long as you stay here with me,” Bill chuckled as he gently lifted Dipper’s chin up.

“I promise.”

~

Bill and Dipper didn’t stay out much longer. Dipper was worried that Mabel would notice that they were gone before too long. They walked back to the car, as they got in under the dome lights, Dipper looked over at Bill.

“Oh wow,” He laughed lightly, “your eyes.” Bill smiled.

“You’re one to talk,” he giggled. Dipper pulled the shade down and flipped open the mirror. He looked like someone punched him in the face. He scoffed.

“That’s the last time I let Mabel put makeup on me,” He grumbled, trying to wipe some of it off with his sleeve. Dipper gave up after a while and drove off, heading back to the shack. Once they were out of the forest and back on the road, Bill reached over and took Dipper’s hand. The teen smiled, not looking away from the road. Bill curled up by the window again, watching the town this time in its serene setting.

Dipper glanced at the demon momentarily, remembering what Mabel said a few days ago. The night he stormed out, Bill was out here, searching for him until the sun rose the next morning. A huge wave of gratitude came over him as he found himself instinctively squeezing Bill’s hand. The demon turned his head, but Dipper’s eye were already back on the road.

~

They made it back to the shack, and Dipper pulled in slowly and quietly as to not draw attention to them. The music was still playing loudly as they went to the front door. The two of them slipped inside, relieved to find that there were still plenty of people there. The last song playing came to an end and Mabel’s voice pierced the room.

“Wasn’t that great folks? But now I think it’s time to take it down a notch. Ladies and gentlemen, find your partners. It’s about to get… romantic,” Mabel said dramatically. The heavy beat died down and Mabel started playing one of those crappy couples dance songs. Men and women around the floor were grouping up, while the single people escaped to the sidelines. Bill gave Dipper a look, causing the brunette to blush.

“Care to dance?” He extended his hand. Dipper looked around. Everybody seemed too distracted to notice if they did. He agreed, placing his hand in Bill’s. Bill brought his other hand around Dipper’s waist, and Dipper placed his arm around Bill’s neck. To the beat of the song, they waltzed around in a small circle carefully avoiding the other dancers, smiling at each other.

Mabel raised her sunglasses as she took a moment to admire her crowd of satisfied partiers when she caught a glimpse of her brother and the dream demon. She gasped, followed by a big, toothy grin as she reached into her pocket and pulled out her camera.

She squinted to try and get a good shot, and just when they weren’t expecting it, she snapped the picture. The flash didn’t seem to faze anyone with the already bright lights. The picture printed and as it developed, Mabel admired the happy look on her brother’s face. To herself, she whispered,

“I never miss a scrapbook-ortunity.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, I didn't include a trigger warning for this chapter. I just really didn't want to spoil anything. I hope everyone likes this so far, it's been fun to work on.


	12. The Moment of Truth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stan comes home and Dipper puts his plan into action.

It was late when the party finally died down. Dipper and Bill had passed out on the couch, while Mabel was sprawled over her DJ table when she finally fell asleep last night. All the guests had left, thankfully, but the mess they made was atrocious. As Dipper finally woke up, his eyes were slightly stuck together since he never actually took all of the eyeliner off before he fell asleep. He was laying on top of Bill, who was stretched out over the whole couch beneath him. Dipper chuckled, admiring the sleeping demon. Bill’s face was smudged by the makeup too, so much that he looked like a raccoon. A blonde, lanky raccoon. Dipper tried to get off of him without disturbing him, but that was practically impossible. The demon yawned himself awake as he felt the body shifting on top of him.

“Dipper…?” Bill mumbled.

“Good morning,” Dipper greeted as he was hovering above Bill awkwardly.

“What time is it?” The demon moaned.

“I don’t know, but you should come with me to the bathroom so we can clean up,” Dipper rolled off of the couch so Bill could at least sit up. He did so slowly, and eventually he made it to a standing position. Dipper led him to the bathroom and sat him down on the lidded toilet while he rummaged through the cabinet, looking for Mabel’s makeup remover. He found some and a wash cloth. Squirting some of the smelly liquid onto the cloth and wetting it under the faucet, Dipper wiped away the excess black marks from Bill’s face. Once he had gotten it all off, he rinsed the cloth and started washing his own face.

When they were back to normal, they returned to the front room where the party was held. There were streamers and confetti everywhere, food was tossed all over the floor around the table it was set on. Mabel was only just waking up as they came back, groaning as she struggled to lift herself up.

“That was some party,” She managed, observing the aftermath for herself. Despite the mess, she still let out a light chuckle.

“Yeah,” Dipper piped in, “that was fun, but we need to clean this up before we bring Stan back.”

“Oh crap, I forgot! What time is it?” Mabel panicked, suddenly wide awake. She snatched her phone out of her pocket and turned it on, “Oh my god, it’s almost noon!”

“Relax Mabel, Stan has a late flight here. He won’t be back until eight or nine,” Dipper said before his sister gave herself an aneurism.

“Oh, good…” She took a deep breath, “Well, why don’t we get some breakfast and then clean this place up,”

“It’s your turn to make breakfast Mabel,” Dipper grinned. She responded with a moan.

“But, I did all the party work,” she whined.

“Not even, just go make breakfast,” Dipper argued playfully. She rolled her eyes, but went with it.

“Okay, but you have to come with to keep me company,” Mabel extended her finger at her twin. Dipper sighed.

“Fine,”

“And only Dipper, sorry Bill,” She started, Bill frowned, “I just need some sibling one on one time,”

~

Bill reluctantly went to the living room to watch T.V. while Dipper and Mabel went to the kitchen. As soon as they were far enough away, Mabel started doing that high-pitched squeal that she did when she got really excited. Dipper gave her a weird look, urging her to explain.

“You didn’t tell me that you and Bill actually had a thing,” she grabbed Dipper’s arms while she bounced on her toes.

“What?” Dipper blushed, “What do you mean?”

“Don’t play dumb with me bro-bro,” She scolded, reaching into her pocket and pulling out the photo she took of the two of them. Dipper looked at it. The color on his face deepened as he admired what Mabel had seen. He did look happy, just as he remembered being.

“You guys look so cute together,” She gushed, “I’m just so happy for you,” She hugged Dipper tightly. Dipper let her hang on for a while, eventually struggling to break free.

“I don’t even really know what we have,” Dipper admitted, Mabel let go and gave him a serious look.

“Well you need to find out, ‘cause to me, it looks like you two are pretty close, if you know what I mean,” she elbowed him playfully. Dipper just sighed. His mind wandered to the events of last night, the things Bill had said when the two of them were in his secret place. He knew that Bill would be around for a while.

Mabel finally finished making breakfast. She made waffles and sausage. Fixing up their plates decoratively, she set the dining room table and had Dipper call for Bill. This is the last time for a while that they would be able to eat, just the three of them. Bill was being amusing as usual, while he basically stuffed himself.

They finished eating, and it was agreed that they must clean up the shack before Dipper left to get Stan.

Cleaning the party up didn’t take as long as they thought it would. Mostly it was just garbage that littered the floor. Dipper and Bill took care of that while Mabel put the reusable supplies away. The dance floor was easy, but she needed the guy’s help to get the DJ table back where it belongs. When they were done, Mabel poured them a glass of lemonade and they gathered in front of the T.V. and watched movies until Dipper had to leave. He really didn’t want to go bring Stan back, but leaving him at the airport wasn’t exactly an option.

Dipper left them to go get changed. While he was alone, he couldn’t help but worry about what Stan was going to say or think. He knew his grunkle was the skeptical type, and the last thing he wanted was for him to discover who their Bill actually was. If that happened, Bill and Dipper would probably end up separated forever. Dipper tried to brush off his worries, at least until he was actually talking to Stan about this, and he left his room. He found his hat that Mabel borrowed hanging up by his jacket. He grabbed both and put them on before turning to his sister and Bill.

“Okay guys, I’ll be back in a while,” Dipper said as he walked out the front door.

“Bye!” Mabel waved. Dipper smiled, closing the door behind him.

~

Dipper had been gone for a while. Bill and Mabel finished the rest of the movie they were watching, and when it was over, the demon sighed and started rolling around on the couch, giving Mabel a needy look. She didn’t notice at first, while she picked out another movie. As she went to put it in, Bill stopped her.

“Hey Mabel?” He began timidly. She glanced over at him from in front of the T.V.

“Yeah?” She responded, raising her brow.

“Can I talk to you about something?”

“Of course you can,” She smiled, getting up from the floor to join him on the couch.

“It’s about Dipper…” he began, she couldn’t help but smile, “I’ve seen humans interacting with each other for centuries, but I’m not exactly sure how to do it properly,” the demon admitted, twiddling his thumbs together.

“So, you need some pointers?” Mabel questioned.

“Yeah. I want to make sure he knows what it’s like to have a… um… what do you call it?” Bill struggled, shifting awkwardly in his seat. Mabel grinned and covered her face, trying not to be rude.

“Like…” she giggled, “a boyfriend?”

“Yeah,” Bill’s eyes brightened at the sound of the word. Mabel squealed as quietly as she could manage, but she couldn’t stop herself from hugging him tightly. Bill didn’t really think anything of it.

“I have just the thing for you,” she let him go, still grinning, “Come with me,” she gripped his arm, dragging Bill up the stairs to her room. Bill took a seat on her overly plush bed while Mabel dug through her belongings. She had a secret stash, buried behind her collection of normal teen books was quite the horde of sappy romance novels and graphic novels. They were conveniently placed in a box which she pulled off the shelf and dropped it on her bed with a loud thud.

She picked through the books, tossing aside most of them. Bill tried to help by picking one up and reading the cover. The front picture had a shirtless man and woman who were facing backwards, doing… questionable things. Mabel snatched it from his quickly, letting out an awkward laugh.

“That one’s not going to help you,” she said, adding that book to her discard pile. Before Bill could try and help again, she found one of the items she was looking for. Handing it over to Bill while she looked for more, she insisted that he looked through it.

It was one of the graphic novels, this one had a very nice drawing of two male characters holding each other suggestively on the front cover. Bill flipped through the pages until he got to the sexually explicit part. His eyes widened as he closely examined the pictures.

“Is this human mating?” he questioned, holding up the picture and pointing to it.

“No, well, not really. Those are two men, so they don’t mate in the intended way,” Mabel tried to explain logically.

“So, this isn’t normal for humans…” Mabel shook her head.

“Not usually, but it is more common now,” She said with a smile. As she got toward the bottom of her box, she found the rest of the books she was looking for and gave them to Bill.

“Here, all of those should help you figure out how to be a good boyfriend,” she grinned, as she now went to put the rest of the books back in the box.

“Thanks Mabel, but…” he glanced at the extensive pile of gay smut Mabel just happened to own, “Why do you have…” Mabel shushed him before he could finish.

“No reason, but Dipper can’t find out about this okay,” she made Bill promise before he was able to even leave her room. He took the pile into his and Dipper’s room and stuffed all but one of them in a spot he knew Dipper would never look.

He sat back on the bed and read through the graphic novel he was reading earlier. Besides the sexual activity, he analyzed the dialogue between the two main characters in addition to their actions. Mentally making note of anything that caused a happy reaction in one of the characters. It all seemed weird to Bill, but this if this is what humans like, then this is what he was going to do.

~

Dipper arrived with Stan not too long after he left. Stan seemed happy to be back to the old shack, despite his long stay in a tropical place. Dipper called out for Mabel, who was elsewhere in the shack. She came out and gave Stan a hug. They asked about his trip, and he has all sorts of funny stories about how he got himself in trouble. Apparently Stan can’t leave Gravity Falls without feeling the need to steal or solicit money from the locals.

When Stan left the room to go unpack his bag, Dipper quietly asked about Bill.

“Where has he been? I thought we were supposed to introduce them?” Dipper wondered.

“Oh, he’s been in your room.” She stated simply.

“My room?” Dipper stood to his feet, “What’s he been doing in there?” he asked himself as he walked down there to retrieve the demon. He knocked on the door, which was followed by shuffling and slamming sounds. Bill opened the door to find Dipper eyeing him curiously.

“What were you doing in there?” Dipper asked, trying to look past Bill into his room. Nothing seemed out of order.

“Just, meditating,” Bill lied, “you know, since it was just so quiet in here.”

“Okay,” Dipper chose to ignore it, “Well, I need you to introduce yourself to Stan.” Bill’s eyebrows raised.

“Does that mean he said I could stay?” He asked excitedly.

“No, I haven’t asked him yet. I thought he should meet you first before he could make a decision.” Dipper said, grabbing Bill by the wrist and walking back to the living room.

He sat Bill down on the couch with him, Mabel was still in there as well. They waited silently for Stan to come back out. Dipper felt nervous about finally asking his grunkle. Even though they had this well planned out, he still feared that Stan would say no. Bill felt Dipper’s nerves acting up and he placed his hand on the panicking teen’s. Stan came out of his room after a while, and Dipper tensed when he knew that Stan saw Bill. He came into the living room, standing right in front of the demon.

“Who are you?” He asked bluntly.

“This is my friend,” Dipper began, “Bill.” Stan raised his brow. He looked at Bill and his features, who just smiled at him. Eventually Bill reached his hand out to shake, Stan accepted.

“Hi, nice to meet you.” He beamed.

“So, Bill? Is that short for William?” Stan asked. Bill nodded.

“Yessir,” he replied.

“Then I’ll call you William,” he decided, Dipper could feel his nerves letting up as Stan stopped looking so skeptical, “So, when did you meet Dipper here?”

“A couple days after you left,” Dipper piped in. Bill nodded in agreement.

“So, do you live around here?” Stan questioned.

“I live in the next town over,” Bill went on, trying to remember the details of their story.

“Speaking of which, there’s something I need to ask you Stan,” Dipper added as he stood up, “In private,” he began walking towards the kitchen. Stan shrugged and followed his nephew who had sat down at the kitchen table. Stan did the same.

“What is it kid?” He asked, giving Dipper a weird look.

“Well, it’s about Bill,” Dipper began.

“He’s not Cipher Bill, is he?” Stan asked bluntly. Dipper figured that he would.

“No no,” he lied, “I thought that too at first, but I haven’t seen any signs that would point to them being connected. It’s just a coincidence.” Stan bought it.

“Alright, so what about him?” Stan wasn’t in the mood for beating around the bush, clearly. Dipper took a deep breath.

“You see, Bill actually has been living in the youth center right outside Gravity Falls. He… lost his parents recently,” Dipper began his story. He couldn’t tell what Stan was thinking, he was keeping a pretty good poker face. Dipper tried to brush it off and kept going, “He really hates it over there, and I promised him that when you got back, I would ask if he could stay here for a while.”

Stan was quiet for much longer than Dipper was comfortable with. Dipper was beginning to feel discouraged, but then his grunkle finally spoke up.

“I don’t know Dipper,” He started, crossing his arms in front of him, “we don’t exactly have the room.”

“Actually, he’s just been sleeping on the couch in my room since we met. It’s worked out just fine,” Dipper argued.

“He’s already been staying here?” Stan narrowed his brows at him.

“Well, yeah,” Dipper admitted, “Sorry, but I couldn’t say no.” Stan’s response was exactly what Dipper thought it would be.

“Well, you kind of put me in a bind here kid,” He leaned back in his seat, “But, I could use another person to help run the shack.” Dipper beamed.

“So he can stay?” He asked, his body tensed up with nervous excitement.

“As long as he works, but if he does a bad job, I won’t hesitate to kick him out.” Stan threatened. Dipper didn’t even care though. Bill wouldn’t let him down, meaning that their plan worked out.

“Great,” Dipper exclaimed, “Thanks Stan, I’ll go tell him,” He leaped out of his seat and quickly hugged his grunkle before running to the living room. Stan chuckled as he left.

Dipper ran in and Mabel and Bill awaited his answer with bated breath. Dipper smiled at Bill who knew from that exactly how the conversation went. Bill excitedly got up and hugged Dipper.

“He did say you had to work for him, but since you’ve already had some practice, that should be easy,” Dipper said.

“Of course,” Bill said with a sigh of relief. He would have been lying if he said that he didn’t have a concern about what Stan was going to do when he met him. Luckily, he didn’t recognize Bill as THE Bill.

Bill pulled Dipper close for a kiss, but Dipper pushed him away. Knowing his sister was still there, watching. She looked at them momentarily before she snapped back into reality and offered to leave the two of them alone.

“Goodnight guys, don’t have too much fun,” She wished, winking at them as she took her leave towards the attic. Dipper was blushing as he looked back at the demon. Bill was smiling at him.

“Let’s go to our room,” he said, suggestively. Dipper nodded and the two of them walked to their room. Bill made sure to hide the book Mabel gave him that he was reading when Dipper interrupted him earlier. As soon as the door shut, Dipper got more comfortable as he stripped down to his t-shirt and underwear. Bill was going to change into his pajamas, but it was fairly warm in the shack tonight. He wanted to go pants-less like Dipper always did, so he just changed into his sleep shirt.

Dipper was in bed already when Bill joined him, lifting up the covers momentarily as he took his place next to the teen. Bill closed his eyes and laid back, content in the events of that day. He was about to drift off into sleep when he felt weight above him. Bill’s eyes slowly came open to find Dipper laying over him, gazing at him.

“What?” Bill laughed.

“I’m just glad you’re still here,” Dipper stroked Bill’s cheek softly before he leaned down to kiss him, “I was a little worried about telling Stan.”

“I know,” Bill brought his hands around Dipper’s hips, holding them close, “I was too,” Dipper laughed.

“Well of course you were if I was, we’re connected,”

“Yeah, emotionally. But we don’t share thoughts. I was worried because I thought Stan would still recognize me in this form. Him and I go way back you know,” Bill explained as he rubbed circles in the teen’s lower back. Dipper sighed contently at Bill’s touch.

“But, you look a lot different like this,” Dipper said, twirling the demon’s blonde hair with his finger, “Not even Stan could tell,”

“You like this me though,” Bill smirked.

“Yeah, lots,” Dipper briefly kissed Bill again, “you make a much hotter human than demon.” Bill made a disapproving noise.

“You think that only ‘cause you are a human,” Bill chuckled as he gripped at Dipper’s shirt, “I was fighting off other demon’s with a stick in my old form.”

“Sure,” Dipper said sarcastically as he pictured the Bill he remembered from when he and Mabel were kids, “You looked like a dorito,” Dipper laughed.

“I was not a dorito!” Bill raised his voice and his lower lip curled into a pout.

“Yeah, you were,” Dipper smirked and kissed Bill’s puffed out lips. When Dipper pulled away, Bill opened his mouth to argue again but he found the teen filling it immediately after. Dipper nipped and tugged at Bill’s lower lip, causing the demon to arch his back. Bill wasn’t used to being the one on the other end of these situations, but when he reached up to attempt to flip them around, Dipper gripped as his wrists, pinning him down on the bed. Bill gave an exasperated sigh when Dipper pulled away from his mouth and started placing kisses along his jawline. The demon hummed as the teen traveled down his neck, across his adams-apple. When he reached Bill’s collar bone, using the tip of his tongue, he went back up the demon’s neck, forcing Bill’s head to roll back.

Bill was nearly in awe of his young lover. Dipper had managed to bind him in his current position, while Dipper’s lower half still lay on top of him. Bill couldn’t move, he didn’t want to move. Being forced to do something for a change was oddly a turn on. And he was getting so turned on.

Dipper sat up on his knees, straddling Bill underneath the warmth of the blanket. He let free Bill’s arms, which immediately came up around his lover. Dipper’s body rocked as Bill’s fingers ran down his back and gripped his ass. Dipper moaned slightly until Bill kissed him deeply, his body collapsing on top of the demon. Bill broke the kiss for a moment to gaze into Dipper’s eyes.

“What?” Dipper said in between light gasps.

“You know, you have a really nice ass,” Bill smirked. Dipper blushed, suddenly feeling self-conscious about letting Bill hold him like he was. He laughed nervously as the color on his face deepened to a lovely scarlet. Bill just laughed.

Dipper rolled off of the demon and gripped at his pillow, avoiding the inevitable eye contact. Bill rolled onto his side and pulled Dipper in close to him.

“You know,” Bill whispered in the teen’s ear, “You’ll have to learn to take compliments if you want to love yourself,”

Dipper groaned, “I know, it’s not that easy though,” he took Bill’s hand in his, lacing their fingers together.

“I’ll get there someday, I just need a little more time.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That chapter took longer than I planned. I've been dealing with finals at school and I had a couple of power outages that shut off my internet for a while too. But everything's been fixed and hopefully I can get back to writing for a while. I hope you all enjoy :)


	13. Like Old Times

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Summerween approaches and Mabel gets excited about costumes. Meanwhile, Bill is acting suspicious.

Since Stan had come back, things had been quite different in the Mystery Shack. Dipper did manage to impress his grunkle with the profits they brought in while he was away. So much that Stan let Mabel be in charge of doing tours permanently. Bill was making quite the name for himself as well. He had a knack for making useless junk look quite useful. Dipper enjoyed kicking back behind the register, watching the demon flash things around at customers. It was funny how much they ate up Bill’s words, and believed his advertisements. The people of Gravity Falls apparently were as gullible as ever.

Since everyone had become accustomed to Bill, they all really took a liking to him too. He was quite the charmer, even towards Stan. Despite their rivalry of sorts, he put that aside and really sucked up to him. He made sure that every day he would come in and clean the shelves and windows and made everything look nice and presentable. Stan was so impressed that he actually started paying Bill regularly on top of letting him stay in the shack. When he wasn’t sprucing up the shack, he would make them dinner. Most often in shapes that Stan appreciated, like his face.

It was a slow day in the shack for once, and Stan had taken his lunch break for the day leaving Bill, Dipper, and Mabel in the gift shop by themselves. Bill took a seat next to Dipper, whose place was at the register now. Mabel paced around the room. Dipper looked over at the demon who was still polishing off a knick-knack despite Stan’s absence. Dipper chuckled.

“You really are laying it on thick there, to get on Stan’s good side,” Dipper noted. Bill looked up from his cleaning and glared at him.

“Haven’t you ever heard the saying, ‘Keep your friends close, and your enemy’s closer.’?” He argued.

“If you say so,” Dipper brushed him off for now. As long as Bill wasn’t getting himself into trouble, he didn’t really care what he decided to do.

“Hey guys,” Mabel piped in, bounding over to the counter, “Do you realize what day it almost is?” She said excitedly. Bill and Dipper gave her curious looks.

“Oh my gosh, you really don’t know?” She asked, though rhetorically because she didn’t even give them a chance to answer.

“It’s almost summerween!”

Summerween, Dipper thought. They hadn’t really enjoyed a summerween since their first year in Gravity Falls. Though, Dipper had always felt bad about that one, since he basically ruined everything and it cost him and his sister a year of trick-or-treating that they would never get back. Since then, the idea of summerween and Halloween has been bittersweet. Dipper sighed at the thought of another holiday that he was probably going to ruin for his twin, but then Bill piped in.

“You know,” he began, “I’ve always enjoyed watching you humans and your ween holidays. They look like fun.” He beamed.

“Right!” Mabel shared in his excitement, “We should totally do a group costume,” she suggested, looking at her brother. Dipper smiled weakly.

“Yeah, that sounds great,” he said half-heartedly.

“What’s wrong bro-bro?” Mabel immediately sensed something off about Dipper.

“Well, it’s been a while since we’ve had a good summerween, and, well…” he paused for a moment. He realized right now what exactly has been bothering him. It wasn’t so much the holiday, but since their first summerween, Dipper has lost the people that made that time special.

“I really miss Wendy and Soos,” Dipper admitted. Mabel’s expression dropped to one of sadness. She reached out and took Dipper’s shoulder in her grasp.

“I’m sorry Dipper, but they’ve both moved on with their lives,” She reminded him.

“I know, but we don’t even talk anymore. They’re always too busy,” He sulked.

Bill acknowledged his sad friend as he placed a consoling hand on his back. Dipper glanced at him, only to sigh and turn away. Even though he was much better off than he was only a short while ago, he still felt lonely. His friends had left him behind.

“Hey guys,” Bill began, standing up front his seat, “I’m going to take a break for a while,” he walked off without much of an acknowledgement from the twins.

“What’s up with him?” Mabel asked as soon as the door shut behind the demon. Dipper shook his head.

“No idea.”

~  
The rest of that day, Bill had been distant. He did his job, but as soon as work was over for the day, he seemed to have vanished. Neither Dipper nor Mabel had any idea of what he was doing when he was gone. Dipper couldn’t seem to find him either. He would only become worried if Bill didn’t come back for him tonight, but until then, Dipper and Mabel rummaged around for anything that could explain where he went.

The twins went upstairs to Mabel’s room when they had given up on Bill so they could see what they could do for summerween. Dipper sat on her bed while she rummaged through her boxes of fabric and costume bits from old projects.

“Hey Mabel,” Dipper asked, twisting her messy sheets around in his hands.

“Sup Broseph?” She failed to look at her twin, still going through her box. Fabric bits were being tossed behind her, making quite the mess of her already messy room.

“Has Bill said anything to you,” He started nervously, “about us?” His sister stopped digging in the box and turned around to face him. Her face was serious.

“Why?” She wondered, “I don’t think he would talk to me about something that he wouldn’t tell you,” she lied.

“I was just wondering,” Dipper’s eyes fell to the floor, avoiding his sisters gaze. Obviously something was bothering him. She was about to push him into talking about it, but Dipper changed the subject.

“So, have you found anything we could do for summerween?” He looked back up, eyes focused on her fabric piles. Mabel sighed, but tried to remain her peppy self.

“Well, I have a ton of this pretty blue fabric, and some ripped up clothes that would need some patching up,” She scooped up the fabric in her arms and looked around at the mess on the floor. Then, something struck her like a load of bricks. She grinned widely, her eyes brightened.

“Oh my gosh,” she beamed, “I know exactly what we’re going to do,” jumping about the piles of fabric, she gathered all the pieces that she could use for her idea. Placing them on the bed, Dipper looked at them, still not really sure where she was going with this.

“Are we going as hobos?” Dipper suggested, looking at the array of clothes next to him.

“No,” she claimed, “We can do the wizard of oz! I’ll be Dorothy, you can be the scarecrow, and Bill can be either the lion or the tin man, we’ll let him decide,” Mabel danced excitedly on her toes, but the mention of Bill made Dipper worry again. He faked it for the sake of his sister and got excited for her costume idea but he couldn’t help but wonder where that demon could have wondered off to.

Mabel kicked her brother out so she could get to work. With a sigh, he clambered down the stairs and back to his room. It was starting to get late, and after a long day of working, he was tired. He decided to take a shower before bed, knowing that Bill had not yet come back. He wandered into the bathroom and locked the door behind him. He turned the shower on and as it heated up, steam filled the bathroom. Dipper took a deep breathe, trying to relax as he undressed slowly. His clothes were tossed aside as he stepped into the shower. The hot water felt nice against his skin.

Dipper’s mind wandered momentarily. As he took the soap in his hand and lathered it up, he thought about what Bill said to him last night. He felt his heart fall. The teen took a few deep breaths before he looked down and examined himself. His skin was starting to flush red from the heat of the water, making him feel warm. He noted how obviously average he was, but tried to put that out of his mind. He noticed how his knees buckled awkwardly when he stood and how his toes sprawled apart without shoes or socks to hold them together. He tried to keep an open mind about his own body, but after only a few moments he felt self-conscious and looked away.

He couldn’t handle much more and after he washed his hair, he flipped the water off. With a yawn, he pulled the shower curtain back. At first he didn’t notice, but when he looked up, a loud yelp escaped him and he pulled the curtain around him. Bill was standing there, clasping his hands in front of him.

“What the Hell Bill?” Dipper shouted as he hid behind the shower curtain. Bill had a guilty look in his eyes, “How did you even get in here?”

“I’m sorry, I just wanted to talk to you,” Bill shied away.

“Can’t it wait until I’m not standing naked in the shower?” Dipper’s face turned bright red. Bill shrugged and turned around to leave.

“Okay, I’ll be in our room,” Dipper closed the curtain completely as Bill left. Although before the demon was gone, Dipper heard the cabinet open and something flop against the toilet lid, “Here, you forgot one.”

With that, the demon was gone. Dipper peaked out from behind the curtain to make sure Bill had left. He looked down at the toilet to find that Bill had brought him a towel. He gave a weak smile and grabbed it to dry himself off. He wrapped the towel around his waist and walked to his room. Bill was sitting legs crossed on his bed waiting. Dipper went over to his drawer and pulled on some underwear and ditched the towel, then he joined the demon on his bed.

“Where have you been all day?” Dipper asked, before Bill could try and get him off subject. Bill sighed.

“I had some things I needed to take care of,” He began, sounding guilty, “It took longer than I thought.”

“You had me worried all day,” Dipper placed a hand on Bill’s shoulder, “You could have just told me where you went.”

“I’m sorry,” Bill said, throwing his arm around Dipper’s shoulder to pull him close. Bill pressed his face against Dipper’s head. Dipper could feel a smile crease his lips. Bill kissed Dipper’s forehead sweetly before falling back onto his pillow. Dipper crawled over and slipped under the covers, cuddling up to Bill as he laid his head on the demon’s shoulder.

Dipper would be lying if he said that Bill’s disappearance didn’t still concern him, but for now, he was just glad to have his demon back at his side. Contently, he drifted off into sleep.

~

“Dipper, Dipper wake up!” Dipper was shaken awake by his bedmate. Bill’s voice sounded excited. Dipper groaned as his eyes slowly opened, wincing at the sudden bright light.

“Why?” He grumbled, grabbing his pillow and covering his face. Bill pulled him over, freeing his face from his pillow.

“Come on,” Bill urged, “I have a surprise for you,” the demon flipped his sheets off, “And you might want to put some clothes on.”

Dipper rolled out of bed reluctantly. As his feet hit the floor, he looked down at himself. He was only in his boxers. Bill looked at him, grinning. Dipper blushed but stood up and went to his dresser for some clothes. Fully dressed, Dipper followed Bill out to the front door of the shack. Bill gripped the handle as turned to the teen.

“Are you ready?” He smiled. Dipper rolled his eyes.

“What is it?” Dipper insisted, his arms crossing in front of his chest. Bill grinned wildly, biting down on his lip as he twisted the handle and swung the door open. Bill took in the look on Dipper’s face as it changed from unamused to baffled and excited. Beyond the door, Dipper couldn’t believe his eyes, were his old friends.

Wendy and Soos stood on the porch, smiling at the teen. Dipper ran over and hugged them both.

“Wendy! Soos! What are you doing here?” He asked, still shocked.

“Your friend found me and flew me over here last night,” Wendy answered with a laugh.

“And he bought me a train ticket last night,” Soos piped in. Dipper turned towards Bill, who had come around the door to hold it open. He was looking mighty please with himself.

“You really brought them here for me?” Dipper asked in awe. Bill nodded.

“You said that you missed them, so I thought it was a good idea,” Bill said nonchalantly. Gave him a huge smile and threw his arms around the demon.

“Oh Bill!” He exclaimed, “Thank you thank you thank you,” he repeated, tightening his grasp.

“You’re welcome,” Bill laughed, “Now go, spend time with them. They’ll only be here for the day,” he pushed Dipper away from him, towards his old friends.

“Hey, let’s go to the roof! I kept all the stuff up there,” Dipper suggested. Soos and Wendy followed him as Dipper ran to the curtain concealing the ladder up to the roof. Wendy and Soos went up and Dipper was about to follow them up, when he realized that Bill was walking away. He ran over and grabbed his arm.

“Aren’t you coming?” Dipper asked him.

“I thought you would want to spend your time with them,” Bill admitted.

“Yeah, and you too, now let’s go,” Dipper pulled him to the ladder and climbed up. Wendy had found her old bucket of pinecones, which Dipper was sure to replenish every summer so he could throw them when he pleased. The old lounge chair was still up there, though it wasn’t really useable anymore. She threw them at the old totem pole, nailing it right in the eye. Soos cheered her on, turning his head as Dipper came up with Bill.

“Wow, I forgot how fun this was,” Wendy noted, “It’s been a while since I’ve gotten to just relax.”

Other than throwing pinecones at things, Dipper, Wendy, and Soos talked about what has been going on for them since they last saw each other. Wendy just so happened to be available to come back to Gravity Falls in between jobs with her husband. She came all the way from New York. Her overall appearance had changed quite a bit. She was still quite the tomboy, but instead of plaids and fuzzy hats, she was wearing more unisex but fashionable clothes. She was making a name for herself in the business world along with her husband.

Soos, who was not all that far away, was doing pretty well also. He moved in with Melanie and started his own business as a freelance handyman. He talked about Portland, and how he really wanted to take Dipper there sometime. He bragged about his favorite donut place, where they made donuts with just about everything on them.

“That sounds delicious,” Bill commented, “Let’s go sometime Dipper.”

“So, Bill, I’ve never seen you before. Are you new to Gravity Falls?” Wendy asked.

“Not really, I just didn’t get out much,” He said. Wendy believed him, Dipper got be a little bit nervous seeing how Soos was looking at Bill. It only made sense, Soos went up against Bill five years ago when they had to enter Stan’s mindscape.

“You know Bill, you look familiar,” Soos said skeptically as he narrowed his eyes at the demon. Dipper gulped, but as he thought about it. He didn’t really see the point in hiding this information from them. Bill looked at Dipper, and Dipper sighed.

“That’s because this is the Bill…” Dipper said. His friends looked at him curiously, “Bill Cipher.”

Soos’s eyes widened, but Wendy wasn’t really sure what he was talking about.

“I don’t understand. He’s human, and more importantly, he’s crazy,” Soos scooted back a little bit, away from Bill, who was staring at him.

“Wait guys, slow down, you lost me,” Wendy intruded.

“I’m a demon, red,” Bill answered bluntly. Wendy looked confused and a little scared, “And I’m not human, just human shaped,”

“So, you still have… powers and stuff?” Soos slunk back behind Wendy, refusing to break eye contact with Bill, who was still staring at him.

“You bet!” Bill waved his hand around, flickering with blue fire. His eyes flashed red as he grinned at Soos, who had lost the nerve to continue to hold their eye contact. Dipper watched them, then turned to face Bill. When he saw what he was doing, he elbowed him in the stomach. Bill winced, and with that, all his demonic properties went away. Soos looked up from behind Wendy. Wendy watched him curiously.

“A…are you sure keeping him around is a good idea?” Soos wondered.

“Yeah, he’s actually not that crazy unless he’s trying to show off,” Dipper furrowed his brows at Bill.

“What I don’t get is that if your such a powerful demon, why are you here pretending to be human?” Wendy piped up, acting pretty chill considering what just happened.

“We made a deal so pine tree could sleep again,” Bill answered happily. Neither Soos or Wendy had been told about Dipper’s latest misfortunes. With a sigh, Dipper told them everything. He explained what happened when Bill possessed him, how he had been plagued with nightmares. He excluded the details about his home and school life, as they would surely ruin this happy reunion with his friends. He went on to say how this summer, Bill showed up and realized what he had done, so they made a deal to have Bill protect Dipper’s dreams.

“Wow, that’s harsh dude,” Wendy said, after silence befell them.

“It was, until just recently. Bill’s pretty nice to have around, besides,” Dipper looked over at his friends, “he brought you guys here,”

“Yeah, let’s go out and do something, like old times,” Wendy suggested enthusiastically.

“You know,” Dipper began, looking towards Soos, “The old laser tag place is still here,” Soos lit up.

“Then what are we waiting for dudes!” He jumped up and ran to the ladder. Wendy, Dipper and Bill followed him. When they got into the gift shop, Mabel was standing there with her arms crossed, tapping her foot.

“Dipper!” She shouted, “Wendy and Soos were here and you didn’t tell me,” she accused.

“I was going to,” Dipper shrugged, “But I guess if you’re too mad to come with us laser tagging…”

“Just shut up and drive,” She shoved the car keys in his hand as she ran outside to give excited hugs to their guests.

~

The five of them spent the entire day doing stuff like they used to when they were kids. After laser tag, Wendy was curious to see if the old convenience store was still there. They snuck in and mooched some free snacks. Meanwhile, Mabel had to prevent Bill from falling under the spell of the smile dip. She stuffed her pockets with all the smile dip that would fit, with full intent to burn them later. They went out to eat at the diner before it got dark, Wendy won them free pancakes using the man tester machine that her dad taught her to win. Afterwards, they drove to the graveyard to watch the sunset. Dipper hadn’t had this much fun in years, perhaps since the last time he spent time with Soos and Wendy.

Eventually though, they had to leave. Dipper dropped Wendy off at the airport so she could go back to New York, and Soos at the train station back to Portland. The twins said their goodbyes and they parted ways again. Though they weren’t there for long, Dipper was happy to have seen them again. Mabel was happy too, she missed Soos and Wendy as well.

On the way back, Mabel questioned Dipper about the whole situation.

“Bill found them actually,” Dipper explained from the driver’s seat, Mabel grabbed the edge of the seats and pulled herself forward.

“Aww, Bill that was so nice of you!” She gushed.

“Well, I knew pine tree would appreciate it,” Bill glanced at him admirably as he reached over to hold his arm.

Mabel held her face, “Dawww, you guys are so cute!” she pulled out her camera and snapped a picture really quick.

“Hey!” Dipper protested, “Put the camera away,” 

“Only if you make me!”

~

Back at the shack, Mabel ran out of the car, but before Bill left Dipper stopped him.

“Thank you Bill, that was the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me,” Dipper said, blushing.

“Don’t mention it Dip, you deserve it,” Bill flattered.

“So, is that why you disappeared last night?”

“Yeah, I had to go to the library to use the internet since Stan refuses to enter the twenty first century and buy a computer,” the demon joked.

“That’s Stan for you.”

Dipper and Bill went back inside the shack. After a long eventful day, they were both exhausted. Going straight to their room, they flopped over onto the bed, not even bothering to change out of their street clothes. Bill felt satisfied with himself as he pulled Dipper close to him. Dipper clutched Bill’s shirt at the waist and kissed him on the cheek.

“Thank you, for everything.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long, but I've gotten another chapter done. I have the rest of this story planned out, I just don't know how many more chapters it will be. Anyway, I enjoyed writing this one so I hope you like it. And thanks for all the comments and Kudos, I really love reading/receiving them :)


	14. A Summerween to Remember

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Summerween is upon the twins and Bill, but they run into an unwelcome acquaintance.

Mabel had been hard at work since she had the idea for this year’s summerween. Bill and Dipper endured many hours of humiliating modeling and awkward measuring for Mabel to get their costumes just right. They took her to the fabric store which was quite interesting. She was like a kid in a candy store around fabrics. They irritated the staff too, with all the fur and fluff Mabel was getting, fur flung everywhere.

Now that summerween had finally come upon them, Mabel looked upon her work with pride. They all went to get dressed in their costumes, but first, Mabel somehow convinced Dipper to let her put makeup on him again. She sat him down in the bathroom and painted his face to be patchwork like. As long as she didn’t put anything on his eyes, as Dipper insisted. Bill was being the lion, so Mabel bought a fake cat nose to put on him.

“Okay Bill, I’m going to put this on your face now but you have to promise that you won’t pick at it, or it’ll come off,” She said as she took the rubbery prosthetic nose out of its packaging. Bill agreed so Mabel opened up the spirit gum and rubbed some onto the edges of the nose. She abruptly slopped it on Bill’s face as he winced at the smell of the adhesive. Dipper chuckled at him as he tried adjusting to having the thing on his face.

Mabel gave them their costumes to put on in their room while she changed. Bill’s costume was huge and furry, and as soon as he put it on, he was feeling much too warm for his comfort. Mabel went very natural and authentic with Dipper’s costume. He had real hay stuffed inside the sleeves and chest that got all over the floor. He put on his hat, finishing off the look and Bill was set with his fur ball outfit. They met Mabel in the living room where she was waiting for them. Her Dorothy costume was perfect, she even made the red sparkly shoes. And, as a bonus, Waddles was there with her dressed as the dog. She had him in a basket, but he was too heavy for her to hold it in one arm.

“Waddles! You’re a puppy,” Bill called as he was the pig. Waddles gave a squeak and hopped out the basket, running over to the demon’s pant leg to nibble on it.

“Waddles no! Don’t bite my costumes!” Mabel shrieked. She yanked him away from Bill’s leg. Shortly afterwards, Stan joined them. This year, he dressed as Frankenstein’s monster. He was determined to earn his title back as fright master, so earlier that day, he had the twins and Bill decorate the shack to look like a haunted house. It was way overdone, but Stan was pretty happy.

“So kids,” Stan began and he prepped a small bowl of cheap loser candy just in case some kids didn’t fall for his horror stunts, “What are you doing tonight?” he asked.

“I hadn’t thought of that,” Mabel pondered, “But I worked so hard on these costumes, so I want everybody to see them.”

“We can’t go trick-or-treating, we’re too old,” Dipper mentioned.

“I suppose doing the egging of houses is out of the question…” Bill said dryly, causing Stan to crack up with laugher.

“Oh man,” He said, still chuckling a bit, “I love this kid. You guys should stay here and help me scare people,”

“Dressed like this?” Dipper questioned, pulling out some of his hay stuffing, “I don’t think we’re scary enough.”

“Yeah, sorry Stan, but I want people to admire me and my hard work, not fear it,” Mabel said bluntly.

“Let’s just walk around town, maybe we’ll find a party to crash or something,” Dipper suggested sarcastically.

“That sounds much better,” Mabel agreed, as she wandered towards the front door, “Try not to give anyone heart attacks while we’re gone,”

“Yeah yeah,” Stan brushed her off, “Just don’t stay out too late,”

“We won’t,” Mabel promised, “Let’s go guys,” She urged Dipper and Bill out the door.

~

It was fairly chilly outside at that moment, so Dipper clutched at Bill’s fluffy arm to try and keep warm. Mabel walked at the front, Waddles bundled up in her basket. There were many trick-or-treaters wandering about the streets of Gravity Falls, most of them starved for candy. It definitely made the twins feel like kids again even if they were only out walking around on their favorite holiday.

Mabel was soaking up the praise she got on her costumes from children and some of their parents walking around. Dipper and Bill walked behind her a bit. Bill reached down and held Dipper’s hand as they wandered the town. Dipper blushed for a moment, but smiled at the touch of the demon. The weird looks they were getting from a few parents made the teen feel self-conscious, but having Bill by his side helped him a little.

Despite the slight discomfort, Dipper was having fun. Nothing was going wrong. No monsters, no undead, nothing but young children running around excitedly gathering candy. Everything seemed to be in order, at least, that’s what Dipper wanted to think. As the twins and Bill walked around Gravity Falls, the crowds of younger children dispersed and the older kids came out. In town square, there was a huge party going on. Mabel dragged her brother and Bill into it, and they complied out of the lack of anything better to do.

At first, the party was pretty fun. There was music and food. The three of them danced awkwardly amidst the crowd, until a painstakingly familiar voice interrupted them.

“Well well well, if it isn’t the Pines twins,” a girl’s voice came from behind them. Dipper felt like his heart stopped. Turning around, he met the gaze of the richest and meanest person to ever grace Gravity Falls with her presence. Pacifica Northwest.

Pacifica and Mabel had actually developed a kind of friendship over the years. It was distant, and they didn’t have too much in common, but Mabel desperately wanted to help Pacifica see the world from a different perspective. Since spending time with his sister, Dipper has noticed that Pacifica has been a little bit more tolerable, but she still never had any love for him. She has treated him pretty terribly since he showed her the truth about her family. Not that it ever affected them.

When Mabel heard her voice, she got excited and whipped around to give her a hug.

“Mabel! How are you?” She gushed, pulling away from their hug, but taking Mabel’s hands.

“I’m great, and you look fantastic,” she smiled, admiring Pacifica’s elegant costume. She was dressed like a Victorian noble woman. That figures, Dipper thought to himself. He backed up a little, hoping that Pacifica wouldn’t bother saying anything to him.

“Thanks, I had it made special for the occasion,” she bragged, “I see you had some fun with your own costumes,” she said, eyeing the three of them.

“Oh yeah, just some old fabrics I had laying around,” Mabel said bashfully.

“You have some serious talent. Maybe I’ll have you make my costume for next year,” she winked. Mabel got really excited.

“That would be amazing! I would love to.”

“Great,” Pacifica smiled, then her glance turned to Dipper and Bill. She was about to make a snarky comment towards Dipper, but Bill caught her eye. Instead of being rude, she turned on the charm for the stranger.

“Hey there,” She glided over to Bill, pushing Dipper aside, “I’ve never met you before,” she flirted, batting her eyes at Bill who was looking a bit uncomfortable.

“I’m not from here,” Bill said, his mouth felt weird moving underneath the sticky cat nose.

“You don’t say,” Pacifica leaned in closer to him. Dipper was feeling angry at her, but he really didn’t want to step in, “I bet you’re quite handsome underneath that cat face,” She cooed. Bill narrowed his brows at her before he peeled off his cat face, causing Mabel to cringe. Pacifica giggled as Bill’s full face was revealed.

“Oooh, you’re cute,” she beamed, “how would you like to come to my mansion with me tonight?” she came even closer, walking her fingers up Bill’s chest.

“Sorry,” he batted her hand away coldly, “I have no interest in you,”

Pacifica scoffed, offended by Bill’s rejection, “You do realize who you’re talking to, don’t you?” she defended.

“Pacifica Northwest, daughter of the richest family in Gravity Falls,” Bill answered blankly, “Yeah, I know who you are.”

“So what’s the deal? Are you gay or something?” She accused.

“Well…” Bill smirked, glancing at Dipper, who was being surprisingly quiet, “I guess you could say that.” Pacifica’s jaw was gaping open as she made the connection.

“You… and… him?” Baffled, she turned to Dipper as he feared. He was hoping Pacifica could endure a meeting with them and not say anything to him. Apparently, that wasn’t possible.

“Dipper, I didn’t expect this from you,” She sneered, “since you were so obsessed with that girl a few years ago.”

“Like it’s any of your business,” Dipper defended.

“Everything that goes on in Gravity Falls is my business,” Pacifica claimed.

“Pacifica please,” Mabel finally piped in, “I know you and Dipper don’t get along, but do you have to fight right now?” She asked.

“I’ll stop if she does,” Dipper crossed his arms.

“I’m not fighting, just, trying to get the story straight,” She lied.

“I wasn’t born yesterday, I know you’re being a bully,” Mabel accused. Pacifica sighed. If she had one weakness, it was Mabel. Dipper smiled at his sister, “C’mon, let’s hang out tonight, I haven’t seen you since last year,” Mabel walked away. Pacifica would follow, but not without a few last words.

“You’re lucky you have a sister to fight your battles,” she commented, Dipper scowled, “and don’t think I haven’t heard about you. Everyone in town knows your story, but I’m sure you already figured that out.”

“So?” Dipper returned.

“So, it’s a shame that your personal life is no longer personal,” She began, “It would be unfortunate for you if more details got out. You’d never know the meaning of privacy again.” She was about to walk away, but Dipper grabbed her shoulder.

‘What the hell is wrong with you,” He called angrily. She stopped and turned back around to face Dipper.

“What?” she said, offended.

“I don’t get why Mabel wants to spend time around you when you’re such a heartless bitch!” Dipper began loudly, “I don’t know what you think you might know, but it doesn’t matter, nobody will believe you when you’ve made a name for yourself as a liar and a bully.”

Pacifica got angry. She grunted, not really having anything to say back to him.

“Well, Dipper Pines, I don’t think you understand how badly I can ruin you,” She said, getting in his face. Bill stepped in, forcing Pacifica back.

“Look blondie,” He started, “I don’t like you, and I don’t like the way you’re speaking to my boyfriend.” He said threateningly. Dipper gasped slightly, his eyes drawn to Bill.

“You don’t scare me!” Pacifica laughed at the sight of Dipper’s defender.

“Really?” Bill gripped her collar, pulling her close. His eyes turned into that bright shade of red like Dipper had seen before in the dreamscape. Pacifica struggled, trying to get out of Bill’s grasp in vain.

“Because you should be.”

Bill let the rich girl go as she fled in the direction of Dipper’s twin. He assumed Mabel would hear about that incident, but right now, he didn’t really care. He went over to Bill, who was standing in a cleared out circle of bodies, all of them looking at him with fear. Bill was breathing heavily out of the anger he felt towards Pacifica. Dipper grabbed his arm and pulled him away. They were forced to leave the party before they left any more of a bad impression on the crowd.

As soon as they got far enough away, Bill had calmed down enough to focus on Dipper. He grasped the teen’s shoulders and looked into his eyes.

“Are you okay?” He asked dramatically. Dipper laughed.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Are you?” He replied.

“Of course I’m fine,” Bill claimed.

“You seemed awfully mad back there,” Dipper noted. The demon gave him a confused look.

“Of course I was, she was threatening you.”

“Yeah, but Pacifica’s all talk. She’s never done any real damage,” the teen wrapped his arms around Bill’s neck, “But forget about her. You called me your boyfriend,” Dipper looked up at him.

“Yeah, I did. That’s what we are, right?” Bill tilted his head like a confused puppy.

“I don’t know,” Dipper admitted, his cheeks becoming flushed, “Are we?”

“I’d like to be,” Bill smiled, moving his hands down around Dipper’s waist, pulling him close. Dipper smiled as he reached out to kiss the demon. The wind picked up, making the temperature drop significantly. It was freezing now to only be standing around in only their costumes. Dipper went to pull away, but the spirit gum still on Bill’s face made that slightly painful.

“We should go back so you can get that stuff off,” Dipper rubbed his nose, smearing the makeup. Bill laughed.

“You too.”

~

It was fairly late when the two of them made it back to the shack. Stan hadn’t had a trick-or-treater come by in a while, which is why he had passed out on his chair while he was watching T.V. Dipper and Bill snuck past him to the bathroom so they could wash up. Bill got in the shower while Dipper went back to their room.

Dipper took off his costume and carefully folded it up to avoid the wrath of his sister and set it on top of his dresser. Bill came back in shortly wearing only his underwear. His tight, form-fitting underwear. Dipper tried to advert his eyes, but he could barely stand to look away. His cheeks were burning when Bill grinned at him.

“W…where did you get those?” He asked bashfully.

“At the mall,” He answered, “Mabel said that I should wear these instead of those baggy short pants that you do,”

“They’re, um, nice,” Dipper commented awkwardly. 

“You like?” Bill teased, seductively rubbing his ass in Dipper’s direction, receiving an awkward cough from the teen.

“You know, “Bill ceased his joking and joined Dipper on the edge of their bed, “I’m really proud of you for standing up for yourself today,” he said softly.

“Yeah,” Dipper smiled, “it felt kinda good too,”

“It does feel good. And I can sense a difference in the way you view yourself, it’s improving,” Bill noted. Dipper leaned into Bill’s shoulder, causing the demon to wrap his arm around him.

“I’m trying,” He said.

“I know you are,” the demon soothed, kissing Dipper on the head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my gosh, I'm finally back and updating. Sorry it's been so slow. I've just been really busy. I'm really grateful for all the comments and kudos though. I love reading them and hearing what you guys think. Thanks so much :)


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